


Agents of SHIELD Weekly Headcanons

by Nova_Fearnewood



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Best Friends, Cute, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Headcanon, Marriage, Mild Sexual Content, Phil Coulson Has the Patience of a Saint, Romance, Some Crack, Some Humor, The Author Regrets Nothing, awkward moments, grant ward has a dog, nothing descriptive, nothing graphic, weekly headcanons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-02-20 08:13:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 26,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2421551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nova_Fearnewood/pseuds/Nova_Fearnewood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just my weekly AoS headanons! May contain fluff, romance, and humor (and a Samoyed dog).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Week 1

Fitz and Simmons are pretending to be purposefully ignoring the happenings in the UK regarding Scottish independence, knowing that they would argue badly if they were to indulge in the unfolding history whilst in each other’s presences. This doesn’t stop them from indulging in private. Jemma cannot lie to Fitz so she blurts out that she’s been keeping up with the events and Fitz confesses to following the stories. They begin to argue and soon it turns into a full-blown debate; Fitz is all for independence while Jemma is against it. Skye puts the arguing scientists into a closet and locks the door, telling them that they won’t be let out until they have agreed to disagree and ended their argument in a truce. Jemma and Fitz argue angrily before falling silent and murmuring their apologies to each other. 

A few hours later, Skye opens the door to find the two scientists curled up in the corner, asleep in each other’s arms, their argument clearly resolved. 


	2. Week 2

When Jemma, May, and Skye’s periods synchronized, one week a month turned into the week from hell. 

Jemma, usually the self-contained and rational person, turned into a very moody biochemist. Fitz would be laughing with her one moment, getting yelled at by her the next, and then consoling her when she began to sob in apology for being so emotionally unstable.

Skye would become very horny and sexually frustrated during her cycle but basically told Ward that she would be out of commission for that week, something that Ward hated because he and Skye had a *ahem* very active sex life and he liked being with Skye. 

May would turn into an eating machine and Phil would often find May eating fast food. He made the mistake of telling her once that her McDouble was basically a heart attack on a bun and the fries had God-knows-what in them and May gave him this look that said,  _"I don’t give a shit if you’re my boss and my boyfriend too, I will still kick your ass, now leave me the fuck alone so I can eat my  goddamn burger and fries."_

Meanwhile, Trip is being the good friend, giving advice to Fitz, Ward, and Phil while being an absolute saint to Jemma, Skye, and May. He even went so far as to running out with Fitz in the wee hours of the morning to get more tampons for Jemma.  

It may be the week from hell, but Trip will always be everyone’s  personal hero when that week comes around. 


	3. Week 3

May was taking a jog around the outer perimeter of The Playground one morning when she noticed a baby bird on the ground, like it had fallen from a nearby nest (which wasn’t all that impossible, given their current location)

Taking pity on the small ball of bloody, downy fluff that was peeping up at her, she used her leather gloves to lift it up gingerly and inspect it’s condition.

It had a bloodied leg that looked like it had been partially ripped off

Perhaps the mother bird had chucked the poor thing out, damaging it’s leg during the fall.

The baby peeped at her again and she smiled at it. This baby bird would need looking after so it didn’t fall prey to a fox or some other, bigger bird. A single flaw shouldn’t mean a lifetime of agony and wasn’t deserving of a death sentence.

May took the baby bird back to her room (apartment was a more accurate name for it) and dressed the wound and set the bird up in a shoebox with some torn up cotton balls and paper shreddings as a makeshift nest. Then she went out to look for worms, because that’s what baby birds ate, and she had to feed it somehow. After all, she  _was_ it’s mother now.

A few weeks later, May noticed that the baby was growing rapidly and that it’s beak was hooked and it had talons like a hawk’s.

She began calling the baby bird Peg, because it only had one leg and also because she couldn’t think of a better name (it was better than naming it something stupid like “Stump”).

Soon Peg’s peepings grew louder and as the first molt began, Peg began to screech a little. Peg’s leg had healed up in no time and she hopped everywhere.

Fitz, who had his room right next door to May’s, heard the noise one day and went over to investigate while May was out looking for voles.

When May returned, she found Fitz with his mechanic’s gloves on, measuring Peg’s leg and talking to himself. She immediately freaked out, afraid that Fitz would accidentally do Peg harm.

Peg hopped onto her perch and screeched at May indignantly before May tossed her a live vole, which she killed and began dismembering.

Fitz watched Peg tear off the vole’s head and disembowel the rodent with a look of disgust before turning back to May. 

"Uh you do know that this is a— a…. um…", Fitz trailed off as he pointed at Peg.

"She’s a  _bird_ , Fitz…”, May finished softly. 

"No no, besides that, she’s an… oh,  _hold it…. I know this one…_ ”, he said to the air to the left of him before making eye contact again, “She’s an American Kestrel.”, he announced proudly.

Peg finished eating and shook her wings, a cloud of down flying off in every direction. Her flight feathers were beginning to emerge. 

"So she’s a bird of prey?", May asked, knowing that it was illegal to have a bird of prey as a pet. 

"Yeah…", Fitz replied slowly.

"Look, you don’t tell a single person about Peg okay? She doesn’t know how to live on her own…", May told Fitz, who nodded earnestly before retreating to his own room.

A few days later, Fitz showed up with a small box for May who opened it and pulled out a miniature steel limb for Peg, custom made with talons and all.

"I know that she’s gonna need it… so I made it for her…", Fitz shrugged.

May smiled and helped Fitz put the prosthetic onto Peg, who struggled a little until the leg was in place before testing it out on her dinner, a field mouse, and finding that it worked very well in taking out the intestines of the rodent.

May taught Peg how to fly and how to hunt and her baby grew up. Soon she had to let Peg go off and migrate, but every year Peg would return to Mama May, eventually bringing her family with her.   

 

 


	4. Week 4

_Five years have passed since the HYDRA takeover. Skye has completely forgiven Grant Ward for anything he did, even helping him through his counseling and getting him a puppy at the end of his counseling._ _Skye and Grant have been dating for three years and living together for two. Their four year anniversary is coming up and Grant has something special planned for the occasion..._

Grant was drumming his fingers nervously on the steering wheel as Skye hummed along to a tune on the radio. Corona, Grant's fluffy white Samoyed dog was sitting in the back seat as they drove along and she would occasionally lean forward and lick Skye's ear or woof softly if she needed something.

"You know you still haven't told me  where we're headed...", Skye said, turning down the radio.

"It's a surprise.", he replied smoothly, "I wouldn't want to ruin it for you."

Grant looked back to the road ahead of him and exhaled silently. He was nervous as ever and the weight of what he was about to do was starting to make his stomach twist into knots.

He turned his Jeep off the main mountain road and onto a smaller winding road  that led further up into the forest. Skye looked out the window at the rain that was a daily happening up here in the forests of Washington State. He knew that Skye loved the forests and even though he had lived for years in the forest, he still liked returning to it. The rain didn't bother him at all and Corona had her own doggie raincoat so her fur wouldn't get (too) wet. They all loved the smell of the rain and the earth too, so that was a plus that you didn't often get in the city.   

"Grant, where are we going?", Skye asked as they drove off of the winding road and onto a gravel driveway.

"You'll see, in just a few minutes. Just keep looking outside... we're almost there..."

Skye gasped when they rounded a thick cluster of trees and got to a house placed in the middle of the clearing.

"Happy Anniversary.", He said with a grin, "It's ours for three days, the owners are very pet friendly... I couldn't bear to leave my cuddly Corona in a boarding kennel...Do you like it?"

 "Like it? This is so perfect Grant!", She squealed, kissing him on the lips softly, "Thank you!"

They got in the house and unpacked and let Corona out in the back yard to sniff around. 

Corona came back covered from head to tail in mud and Skye and Ward gave the big dog a bath in the mud room. Skye agreed to blow dry the dog while Grant got some dinner ready. 

As he prepared steaks and baked potatoes with a fresh garden salad and chilled some champagne, he began to have the same knotting in his gut as before, only this time it was much more intense. 

"Grant, I fed Corona, I'm gonna go freshen up before dinner.", Skye called. 

Grant had already changed into a dress shirt and a pair of dark jeans to fit the occasion and now that everything was set up, he was pacing by candlelit table, his mind racing.

The engagement ring in his pocket felt like it was weighing him down and he eventually sat in one of the dining room chairs. 

Corona, sensing her owner's anxiety, dutifully trotted over to him and placed her head in his lap. Grant murmured to his dog and scratched her behind her ears before having her sit still as he tied the engagement ring to a silver ribbon and tied the ribbon to Corona's collar. He pointed to the doggie bed and the Samoyed was settled down before Skye came into the room.

Skye entered the dining room in a plain black dress with matching flats. Her hair was down and she wore only a tad bit more makeup than she normally did. The look was simple, yet elegant, and so very  _Skye._

Skye smiled softly at him and Grant felt butterflies swarming to life in his stomach.  

"So all of this,", Skye gestured around her, "is for our anniversary?"

"Yup.", Grant replied.

"It's beautiful..."

"Yeah, but it all pales in comparison to you...", he said.

Skye quirked an eyebrow and smirked.

"Grant we've been dating for years and your compliments seem to get cheesier and cheesier...", she joked lovingly.

He shrugged, feeling like the time had come to ask Skye to marry him. 

"I try... I think Corona has something for you though...", he said and Corona's ears lifted at the sound of her name.

"Corona, go to Skye!", he said and the large fluffy dog loped over to Skye.

Skye smiled and pet Corona until she faltered and felt the ribbon. 

Grant held his breath as Skye lifted the ribbon and saw the ring. 

Skye gasped when she saw the diamond ring and then placed a hand over her mouth before facing Grant.

"See, I had wanted to do something uniquely me, so I enlisted Corona's help..."

He got up as Skye untied the ring and he took her hands before getting down on one knee.

"Will you marry me?"

Skye nodded as happy tears fell from her eyes before she choked out, "Do I have to put the ring on myself?"

Grant smiled as he slid the ring onto Skye's finger before he embraced his fianceé and whispered, "I love you", to her.

Skye held him tighter and said, "I love you too." 


	5. Week 5

While Fitz was busy convincing himself that Jemma didn’t love him, Jemma was lying awake in bed at night, just thinking of all the ways she would show Fitz how much she loved him and how sorry she was for leaving him when he needed her the most.

When Jemma returned to the Playground, the first place she visited after her debriefing was the lab to upload all her findings to SHIELD’s system, but she never even made it to the lab. 

She ran into Fitz and Mack chatting in front of the coffee machine in the hall just outside the lab. 

Fitz had regained the use of most of his vocabulary and fine motor skills and his memory was on the mend. He and Mack were casually discussing cars and mechanics as they made up their coffee. Mack turned around with his coffee in hand and his eyes widened.

He recognized Jemma as the girl from that news article he had seen ages ago and looked back at Fitz as he stirred in his sugar.

"—honestly, I think Chevrolet is a bad company, jus’ look at all those recalls! I wouldn’t want to—", Fitz said as he turned around, coffee in hand.

Fitz saw Jemma and stared at her with a blank expression before he screwed his eyes shut and opened them again.

"Mack… am I jus’ seeing things again, or is Jemma Simmons standing there?", he asked as the color drained from his face.

"Nope, Simmons is really standing there…", Mack said.

Jemma was nervous as she replied, “H-Hello Fitz…”

Fitz put his coffee down and said, “Excuse me.”, to Mack before walking past Jemma and opening the door to an empty room before staring expectantly at Jemma.

"Well, if you’re so bloody real, then may I have a word with ye’?", Fitz asked, masking his pain and anger behind an annoyed facade. 

Jemma walked into the room carefully and sat down in one of the chairs. Fitz closed the door and paced for a few moments before speaking in a low voice.

"If someone would have told me years ago that ye’ would have the power ta torment me without remorse an’ break my heart without givin’ half a damn as to how I’d feel, I’d have called them a bloody liar an’ told them that Jemma Simmons was a saint."

"Fitz I’m sorry—"

Fitz held up his hand, silencing Jemma.

"I spent four months,  _four long months_ , without ye’ here, convinced that ye’ hated me for confessing my feelings. I was  _damaged_ an’ ye’ weren’t there for me…”, he paced some more, “D’ye have any bloody clue as to how much it hurt to have the woman I loved walk out on me?”

Jemma was in tears now, crying silently.

"L-Loved?", she choked out.

"Yes,  _loved_ , I buried my feelings for ye’ a month ago…”, he replied.

"Fitz… I am so sorry—"

"THEN WHY DID YE’ LEAVE ME?!", he yelled before stepping back a few paces when he saw how frightened Jemma was, "Christ Jemma, ye’ don’t know how badly it hurt me when ye’ left…", he said in a barely audible voice.

He was crying now too, and for a moment, Jemma knew how he must have felt.

"I hallucinated, my brain made an image of ye’ an’ I spoke ta that image for months!", he said, his voice moving in a gradual crescendo.

"Fitz I—"

"No! No, for months, I’ve been pitied an’ left out because I was the weakest link… I was  _useless_ … ye’ cannae know how bad it hurt.”

He sat down in another chair and faced away from her, crying into his palms. 

Jemma got up and walked over to him, gingerly placing her hand on his shoulder. 

"Fitz, while I was gone, I was working undercover as a scientist within HYDRA… I was trying to get revenge for what they did to you… I was scared out of my wits when you woke up and didn’t know your own name… Thank God you got better and began remembering… But I remember spending three weeks by your side until you woke up. Those were the longest weeks of my life. When Coulson told me about the undercover assignment, I was scared at first, but then I saw an opportunity to bring HYDRA to their knees, to hurt them while helping our cause at SHIELD, and I was enraged, so I went. I was scared there, they tortured me, Fitz, in ways that would make you sick… in ways that make  _me_ sick just thinking about them. I didn’t leave because I didn’t love you…”, she said.

Fitz’s hand reached up to where her’s rested on his shoulder and he placed his hand on top of her’s.

"Then why did ye’ leave?", he asked softly.

Jemma slid around and knelt on the floor in front of him, looking into his azure eyes with both of her hands on his shoulders to steady herself.

"I left because I loved you then… I still love you now… I wanted to tear them down for what they did to you and make each and every one of them fear me. I left because I needed to get back at them for the both of us… Well, with hindsight being 20/20 and all, I realize now that being hasty and vindictive were the worst things I could have done… I’m sorry… Please forgive me…" 

Fitz searched Jemma’s pleading gaze before his eyes landed on fading bruises around her eyelids and faded marks on her wrists.

He realized that Jemma had gone through hell for him and had been brave enough to suffer the pain that HYDRA inflicted upon her. He couldn’t have been that brave if their roles were switched, he would’ve cracked under the pressure.

How could he even try to hide his emotions now? Just a moment ago he was telling her that his feelings for her were buried, but just looking at her now was bringing them back to the surface.

Oh, who was he kidding, he’s still in love with Jemma Simmons.

He cupped her cheek with one hand and murmured, “I could never stay mad at ye’.”

Fitz slid off the chair and wrapped Jemma in a tight embrace, rocking her back and forth gently as she cried into his shirt.

"Shh, there, there… I got ye’ Jemma, an’ I won’t be letting ye’ go this time… I love ye’ too much ta even think about letting ye’ leave me again…"

His confession made her sniffle, cry harder, and nestle deeper into his embrace.

"I love ye’ Jemma…"

"And I love you Leo…"

At the sound of his first name, a wave of fresh memories from his childhood came back to him and he smiled. 

His Jemma was healing him already.


	6. Week 6

(In which Phil Coulson realizes that he has a team of rabbits acting as highly-trained agents)

If Phil Coulson had five dollars for ever time he had walked into a room only to retreat with a scarlet red face after stumbling upon a couple of his agents having sex, he'd be able to go to a five star restaurant with Melinda and eat a full course meal and still have money left over. 

He had caught Grant and Skye in a multitude of compromising positions and in various states of undress, doing things in places he would have thought to be horribly uncomfortable. He had to get the SUV upholstery steam-cleaned twice before he could even  _think_ about driving in it again and he would never look at the spiral staircase that led up to the loft in the Playground the same way again.

Fitz and Simmons were no better. Coulson had caught the pair on top of the holotable (yet another thing he would never look at the same way again) and then, on one memorable occasion when they were supposed to be working late fixing the roof of the BUS's interrogation room, he had glanced out of the window in his office and there they were, on the roof of the BUS, in the dead of night, going at it like a couple of rabbits.

Soon the only agents who he  _hadn't_ seen naked were Tripp and Mack, mainly because they actually knew how to use a lock.

May approached him one day about it while they were alone in the gym after a hard workout and the next thing he knew was being pinned by May and then they decided to defile the sparring mats together.

Needless to say that they never heard the end of it from Skye and Ward after they caught them in the process of defiling the aforementioned mats.

Apparently, Fitz and Simmons had been reviewing the security footage to erase the evidence of their last tryst when they got an eyeful of what was going on in the gym.

 For once, Phil Coulson was the one who was walked in on (though nobody ever talked about it, for fear of the wrath of Melinda May).

      


	7. Week 7

(In which Grant Ward faces his worst fears).

Grant Ward has witnessed some horrific things in his lifetime but he decided that the one thing he could never tolerate watching was the act of childbirth. 

His rugged exterior was damaged in the second that it took for a woman to say “My water just broke” and steadily denatured from there.

He remembers his first experience with the act, he was only twenty five. It was in Russia when he was on a deep undercover assignment and got trapped for ten hours in an elevator in a hospital with a very pregnant woman and an obstetrician. The pregnant woman went into labor and poor Grant Ward had to witness the whole thing. Luckily, the obstetrician did most of the dirty work, but Grant will never forget the blood and the screaming.

On the second occasion, he’d had to assist in the birth of a baby boy and he passed out, but he was again very lucky that there was another person present to help the laboring mother.

Grant Ward had witnessed a total of twelve births in his life, almost all of them happening in countries where medical care wasn’t the best. Some births ended in joyful tears and healthy babies pressed into their mother’s arms and a few ended with heartbreak as the mother died in labor, the babies were stillborn or died shortly after the birth, or, in one case, mother and child both perished.

Grant Ward paced nervously as he steeled himself to witness birth number thirteen, only this time he knew he had to stay by the laboring mother’s side, no matter what.

Skye would kill him if he missed out on the birth of their first child.

"Mr. Ward, you can come in now.", the midwife said as she poked her head out from inside the delivery room.

Skye had sent him out a while ago to call the rest of the team and he hadn’t been able to go back in until he had been put in scrubs in case things got messy. 

Despite the beginning of their relationship being rough (they decided to begin anew after the HYDRA takeover) it had progressed to where it was now. They were married a year after Grant’s proposal and then a few months later, Skye came to him with news; she had conceived. 

Eight and a half months later, Grant walked into the delivery room with his head held high, ready to hold Skye’s hand and help her as much as he could with the birth.

During the process, there were many times that Grant felt like he was going to be sick or pass out, even a few times when he thought that Skye had broken his hand from squeezing too hard, but he powered through it. Whatever he endured, he endured for Skye, and after the birth he learned that he had endured it for another girl too; his and Skye’s daughter. 

The very first time he held his baby girl, Grant knew that whatever fear he had harbored was now eliminated. 

His baby girl, with her tiny hands and big brown eyes and brown hair held his heart and destroyed every negative particle in his body .

His little angel was here to save him. 


	8. Week 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Imagine...

At some point in time, all of the members of the new SHIELD have imagined what type of life they could have led if they hadn’t become agents at all.

Phil Coulson imagines a normal, domestic life. He imagines having a normal nine to five job, maybe as a lawyer, a normal house, and a family of his own. He’s always wanted to be a father, to know what it felt like to hold a baby and know that it would grow up and call him “dad” someday. He imagined his wife being Audrey at one point, but now he couldn’t imagine any other woman but Melinda May filling that place. His imaginings took his mind off of those strange patterns.

Melinda May imagines herself as a teacher because that’s all she wanted to be when she was growing up. She imagined having a family and children, motherhood sounded nice, but whenever she imagined her husband, the only man she could envision was Phil. But in reality, Phil was different and he had changed. The man she knew was falling apart at the seams and there was nothing she could do to stop it from happening.

 Skye imagines going back to school, getting her G.E.D., working her way through her AA degree with an IT internship (hey, she is really good with computers) and then her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. She’d find a job working for Northrup-Grumman or Lockheed Martin (or some big tech corporation) and then maybe, after earning her Masters, she’d try to create her own programs in her spare time. Of course she imagined that she would want to settle down eventually, but that could wait until after she found some steady financial ground. She couldn’t help but imagine what she would be doing with her life if Grant hadn’t been a traitor and if she imagined it clearly in her head, she could almost see a world where she and Grant would’ve been great together.

Grant Ward imagined himself as a veterinarian, working with animals was and had always been his passion, even before Buddy. He had had an array of pets as a child and wanted to learn how to care for all creatures, big and small. He imagined being successful and finishing his education, maybe even settle down with Skye. He had no doubt in his mind that, if he hadn't betrayed SHIELD, Skye would still want to be with him. Now it seemed near impossible for her to even gave him the chance to make amends. All he could see now was being locked in a cell for the rest of his life.

Leo Fitz imagined himself as leader in the field of robotics. He imagined being married to Jemma and maybe having a few children with her (since he knew how it felt to be an only child, he never wanted any of his children to feel that loneliness). He and Jemma would work together to invent new tools that could be used in laboratories and hospitals worldwide. Together, they would save lives. Big dreams from someone who could barely form a complete sentence or use a screwdriver. He hadn't heard from Jemma in ages... She said she was visiting her mum and dad... Maybe she'd come back soon...

Jemma Simmons imagined life with Leo Fitz. Sometimes in her imagination, they'd work together in the lab like they had done back at Uni. Maybe after securing her future with Leo, they’d work on settling down and then, maybe starting a family. She had of course witnessed pregnancy and birth in all stages and she had always wanted to become a mother herself, to go through the process as a participant instead of an observer, then get to be a mother to an adorable little baby boy or girl (whom she’d love to pieces). She’d just have to work hard in the hope that she wouldn’t wind up dead because her cover within HYDRA was blown. She had left Leo broken and alone, what type of friend was she? No wonder she can’t sleep at night…   

Antoine Triplett had always wanted to be an agent, but if he hadn’t joined SHIELD, he supposed he’d want to be a counselor for couples. He had always been a good mediator and he had saved his best friend’s marriage by sitting down with his best friend and his best friend’s wife one time and just talking to them about their problems. If he wasn’t a counselor, he’d be a police officer, a firefighter, or a paramedic, something where he could do a lot of good. If only he could see his family again and not be pegged as a terrorist for being with SHIELD.

Lance Hunter imagined getting things right with Bobbi. As much as he called her a “she-devil” and a demon from the deepest circle of hell, he really didn’t feel that way, he just used those terms to hide how broken-hearted he had been when she decided to leave him. He had wanted a family, she had wanted to be an agent for the rest of her life. He wondered if she was okay.

Alphonso “Mack” Mackenzie imagined owning his own garage. The mechanic’s life suited him just fine. He imagined overhauling Lola for Director Coulson, because letting a vintage corvette just sit there in pieces was something that twisted at his guts. He’d eat quinoa for _three_ years if he was allowed to repair such an extraordinary car.

No matter what they imagined, their lives could have always been worse than what they were like now.

All they had to imagine was a bright future.  


	9. Week 9

_"I see you still remember the steps."_

There was no way Melinda May could have ever forgotten them. 

She had never danced with anyone the same way as she had danced with Phil Coulson. 

She remembers dancing with him at the Academy, just a determined rookie who wanted nothing more than to graduate who developed feelings for her Captain America fanboy partner.

She recalls the steps she took with him in that elegant ball gown out on that ballroom floor in Paris, and going barefoot while wearing a bikini and a sheer sarong in that back party room in their Cancún beach resort.

She remembers dancing with him in the rain on that rooftop in London during a summer storm as the thunder rolled in the skies. They were soaking wet but happy.

She remembers him twirling her in the flurries that drifted down from the heavens on a crisp December evening in Rockefeller Center, the Christmas lights from that huge tree twinkling merrily in his blue eyes as he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. He tasted like peppermint and happiness and she pulled him closer, wanting more.

She remembers swaying with him in that hotel room in Bahrain, anything to dull the pain of what she had just done. Their dance had ended with the two of them tangled in the sheets, seeking solace in each other.

She remembers trying to dance with her husband like that but finding that, even though he was a fair dancer at best, he wasn’t Coulson.

Memories of their dance came drifting to her when she was drinking herself stupid after her divorce were among the most sobering things that she thought of in those months of agony. 

She remembers listening to the songs they used to dance to and crying in desperation and grief when she got the news about his death.

She remembers never listening to that song again until that mission.

That mission when Coulson took her by the hand and led her out onto the floor. That mission where she had to fight to not nuzzle her face in the crook of his neck like she did so many times in the past.

That mission when they played  _that_ song.

It made her want to run and hide, to cry in a corner, to love him without boundaries.

She did her job but all she could think about was that dance.

 She thought about it months later and even played that song while she thought she was alone in her private corner of the Playground.

She almost attacked Phil when he tapped her on her shoulder and held out a hand to her. 

"Still remember those steps?", he asked, a faint smile ghosting across the corners of his mouth.

Melinda took that step towards him, extending her hand.

He took her hand, kissed her knuckles lightly and as he held her close, she murmured, “I doubt I’ll ever forget them.”


	10. Week 10

"Jemma have ye' seen my--- What the bloody hell happened in here?", Leo said as he rounded the corner and entered the laundry room to find Jemma stringing up clotheslines as the washer and dryer sputtered pathetically in the corner.

She was wearing a pair of very short running shorts with the SHIELD Academy logo on them and one of his dress shirts over a plain white vest with mismatched, neon colored ankle socks. Her hair was tied up in a messy ponytail with errant strands floating free. 

The plaid shirt came down below the shorts and the sleeves were too long, but Leo didn't mind, after all it was  _his_ shirt. 

His girlfriend was a vision in deep green plaid and he swore he would never forget such a pretty sight. 

Dripping laundry hung from the clothesline Jemma had already strung up and more was stacked on top of the dryer in a clothes basket and the smell of detergent brought him back to reality.  

Jemma went adorably red-faced and wide eyed and she smiled. 

"Oh... Hello Leo..."

He looked around and blushed when he saw all the very feminine articles of clothing hanging around. Most of it was underwear and socks mixed with blouses, ladies trousers, t shirts, lab coats, and pajamas. 

"D'ye need me to fix that?", he sighed and pointed at the two major appliances.

"What? Oh, yes, that'd be wonderful.... let me just get the rest of  my knickers out of there and I'll be out of your way."

She had to stand on tiptoe to reach into the bottom of the washer affording him a great view of her backside.

He quickly looked away, mentally chastising himself for even looking in the first place. It didn't matter if they were dating or not, he had to keep himself under control.  

She emerged with a handful of colorful cotton knickers, some of them with patterns on them and she began hanging them up while he inspected the machines.

He left to get his tools and when he returned, Jemma was sorting out dirty laundry into different loads and baskets on the other side of the room with her back to him and he sighed before going to work.

Leo had been into engineering for the longest time (since he was just a wee lad), so it was no surprise that he had the machines fixed and running in no time. 

"Ye' know, ye' look very nice in my shirt...", Leo said as he came up behind Jemma and kissed her on the cheek before wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. 

"You know, I think I like this shirt... may I borrow it?", Jemma asked, turning around in his arms to peck him lightly on the lips.

Leo sighed and kissed her nose, smiling when she crinkled it up and blushed.

"I'm not getting it back am I?", Leo asked, grinning down at his girlfriend.

She giggled and kissed him back.

"Not a chance...", she whispered.

And that was fine by Leo.


	11. Week 11

Agent Koenig woke up on November 27th to the smell of delicious food cooking. He didn’t hear the usual hustle and bustle of the base, but rather heard the same hustle but this time it was coming from the kitchen with the addition of some upbeat music.

He rolled out of bed, did his daily routine, dressed and went downstairs to see what all the fuss was about only to watch in awe as every single member of Director Coulson’s team was busy preparing some part of an elaborate meal.

Coulson was working to prepare a huge turkey to go in the oven, Fitz was making gravy, Simmons was making stuffing and chutney, Skye was making yeast dinner rolls, Bobbi Morse was working on the pies with May, Tripp made mashed potatoes, Mack washed the dirty dishes and Lance Hunter dried them and put them away.

Koenig wondered why they were preparing such a meal for a Thursday and almost slapped himself across the face when he remembered what today was.

"Happy Thanksgiving!", Skye greeted. 

 _"Today is Thanksgiving."_ , he thought.

The agents of SHIELD were creating a Thanksgiving feast.

"Good morning Agent Skye!", he replied warmly, "and a happy Thanksgiving to you too!"

Koenig went to work immediately on getting out the fine linen tablecloths, cloth placemats, a long table runner, cloth napkins, napkin rings, the fine china, good silverware, and crystal wineglasses/water goblets as well as running out to the store for some jar candles to add ambiance to the atmosphere. He washed and dried all the linens and set the table as the smell of roasting turkey wafted through the base.

Then all of them settled down and tucked into the table and were about to pray and say what they were thankful for when the big screen projected a large, blinking video message icon.

Coulson leaned over to the wall panel and tapped the answer button and then the image of none other than Grant Ward appeared.

"Ward?", Coulson said, clearly surprised.

Skye blushed and sipped from her water goblet, her bangs falling down to hide her eyes.

"Hello sir and happy Thanksgiving.", the former agent greeted with a friendly nod.

"Uh… Happy Thanksgiving to you too?", Coulson replied.

"Thank you sir… ahem, I have a few small gifts that I hope you’ll all accept as a sign of good faith…", he went on.

"Go on…", Coulson nodded.

The camera moved jerkily and Ward fumbled with it for a couple seconds.

"Right okay… I know Christmas is in another month or so but here is what I can give you right now… Gift number one for Agent May", he stepped to the side, revealing a hostage and ripped a burlap sack off of said hostage’s head, "The Melinda May wannabe."

May inclined her head.

"Gift number two, for Tripp,", He stepped aside and revealed the piece of equipment he was leaning up against which happened to be a Quinjet, "It’s new… the latest tech… Have fun… Gift numbers three and four for FitzSimmons, as many hard drives as I could get my hands on along with all of Simmons’s HYDRA work…"

The scientists mirrored Tripp’s shock at the gifts.

"Gift number five, for Skye…", he lifted up a silver security case, "The Obelisk…"

Skye was astonished to the point of speechlessness.

"And For Director Coulson…", he stepped back and ripped the bag off of the head of another hostage, "Daniel Whitehall."

A silence settled over the room.

Ward shook his head.

"Ah, I almost forgot!", he dug around out of sight before returning with a bottle of Riesling.

"Here is some Riesling and Pinot Noir, I got about three bottles of each since I didn’t know how many agents you have there for dinner, but I do know that  Riesling is a great white wine accompaniment for dinners like these and Pinot Noir is a great red wine accompaniment." 

There was a tense silence before Coulson broke it.

"Where are you now?"

Ward replied easily, “I’m right outside…”

Dinner was abandoned in a mad dash to the front gates where Ward stood with all of his spoils. 

"I know this doesn’t mean I’m off the hook, I still have a lot of personal business to attend to but—"

"Grant!", Skye interjected, "Do you have a place to go tonight?"

He looked surprised.

"Well, I suppose I can get a motel room for the night…"

"Who are you having Thanksgiving dinner with?", She asked.

Grant shrugged.

"Uh, myself?"

 ”Nonsense. You’re staying and eating with us.”, May said. “Take those hostages to the open vaults… bring the rest of the stuff inside.”

Koenig grabbed the hard drives and took them to the lab and all of the agents plus Ward were gathered around the table to give thanks.

HYDRA was not having a very happy Thanksgiving and it’s director was currently being fed stale saltines, water, and some cold chicken.

Koenig smiled at the ones who were gathered today as they put aside their differences for once and shared a meal as friends. 

And Koenig, though he had lost a brother in the past year, was so thankful to have gained a family.  


	12. Week 12

The last dream Skye had before being taken hostage by HYDRA was about her parents.

Not her real parents, of course, but Phil and Melinda.

It wasn’t the first time Skye dreamed that they were her parents.

It wasn’t the last time either. 

Ever since she had boarded the BUS, she felt a strong pull towards the two senior agents.

From the start, Phil had had his stern side but he had always cared about her. He was committed to her success and she had seen that. She remembers referring to herself as his protégé what seemed like a lifetime ago.

He treated her like a teenager who needed an attitude adjustment when she first came on the BUS, and in a way, that’s exactly who she was then.

She was selfish yet selfless at the same time, the only problem with her selflessness was that she sacrificed for the wrong reasons. She was selfishly  willing to do things that would put the safety of her team at risk just to find out some information about her parents and yet she would selflessly risk her own safety to warn Miles.

She had been fostering an unhealthy relationship with Miles and it took her coming onto the BUS and seeing how Coulson and May ran things to truly understand how wrong she had been about Miles. Miles had never needed her, he had only wanted her to be with him as a placeholder. Miles kept secrets from her,  _dangerous_ secrets, while knowing full well that if someone ever came to pay him back for whatever he did that she would likely suffer for it too. He was perfectly comfortable with putting her in dangerous situations on a daily basis but when she wanted to infiltrate SHIELD on her own, he complained for days.

Then she thought he was just going to miss his girlfriend. Now, after seeing that Coulson and May didn’t just let people wander into dangerous situations without good reason, she realized that the only reason Miles had been upset was that he was afraid of losing the only person he could use.

She had been ignorant towards the lives of others, only focusing on the ones that she thought mattered.

She had been reaching out to anyone who would see her as more than just some orphan girl; a pretty face with no life, no money, and no diploma. Most of the times that she reached, others would reach back, but not with Melinda May. Skye was afraid to reach out to her, but when Ward betrayed them and it seemed like she was left with no other choice, she was surprised when the older woman reached out to her.

May clearly didn’t see her as a failure for falling for Grant Ward and being heartbroken when she realized the truth about who he was. 

On the contrary, May saw her as a person who felt betrayed, as a person who had been hurt far too many times, so, in a way, May took pity on her and helped her work through her feelings when she was in pain by helping her to channel her negative emotions into motivation.

Melinda didn’t push her to get over Ward, she allowed her to have her time and get past her tears. May didn’t force Skye to train with her immediately, she put the offer on the table and then gave Skye the opportunity to meet her halfway. May also didn’t push Skye to her breaking point without having a reason. May would be firm and emphasize that she wasn’t Skye’s friend, rather her mentor. May told Skye that her job as a mentor and SO was to make sure that she would be able to handle herself in difficult situations without freaking out but that it was also her job to know when enough was enough but that it wasn’t her job to be her friend and hold her hand every step of the way. A good SO would teach, help, and then gradually move into observing from a safe distance to help their rookie get accustomed to doing things on their own.

This didn’t mean that May was cold towards her, she just expressed her emotions differently. A soft smile and a nod from May was the equivalent of a “I’m very proud of you for all the hard work you’ve put into achieving this goal and you should be proud of yourself too.” speech.  

Coulson and May treated her like an adult now, as an equal instead of just a subordinate. They could talk as adults with that high level of trust that people placed in people they respected. 

She had learned a lot from Coulson and May, so much more than she had ever learned about life from traveling with Miles or training with Grant and she was so grateful.

Skye sighed as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

So many years had passed since that first dream and she still regarded Phil and Melinda as the parents she never had, even confiding in Phil about how she felt like he was a father figure to her and how she felt that Melinda was a mother-figure.  

Now here she was, dressed in a simple white gown made out of linen and lace, ready to get married and those parent-figures were nowhere to be found.

She had no father to walk her down the aisle and give her away or to share a father-daughter dance with.

She had no mother to fuss over her appearance or to cry when she said “I do”, no one for Grant to call his mother-in-law and roll his eyes at.

Then Skye cried a little, quickly grabbing a tissue so that her makeup wouldn’t be ruined.

There was a knock a the door of her bridal suite and she straightened up and cleared her throat.

"Who is it?"

"It’s Mel and Phil… Are you decent?”, Phil Coulson asked through the door.

 ”Oh yeah… I’m decent…”, she replied.

Phil and Melinda opened the door and looked at her.

Skye smiled a little, and, like any good agents, they saw right through the smile and their faces fell.

"Skye, what’s wrong?", Melinda asked, noticing how sad her rookie looked (even if Skye got to be the director of SHIELD one day, she would always be a rookie to May).

"Well, nothing I guess…", she replied.

The two senior agents looked at each other and then back at Skye.

"Oh come on, I didn’t meet you last week, I can tell when something is wrong.", Phil sighed.

"And even if he  _had_ only met you last week, he could tell that something wasn’t right.”, May added. 

Skye sighed and looked at herself in the mirror with her back to the two agents.

"I suppose Coulson told you about what I said.", Skye stated plainly.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and knew that Melinda was doing her best to be understanding in this situation.

"Well, naturally he told me…", she replied.

"And now what? Are you here to tell me again that you’re not my friend only to add to it and say that you’re not someone I should look up to as a mother-figure?", Skye asked, turning to face May.

"And are you going to tell me that I already have an estranged father that I rejected ages ago and that he is my real father even though I don’t see him as that?", Skye asked Phil.

The two agents looked at each other and then at Skye before shaking their heads.  

"No… Mel and I actually came here to tell you that we’d be glad-"

"Honored, actually.", May interjected.

"Honored…", Phil continued, "to fill the roles of your parents."

"Especially today.", May added, "Besides, Grant needs someone to call his ‘mother-in-law’."

Skye smiled.

"Now do you have all the things you need?", Phil asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue?", Phil asked.

"Oh… let’s see… I don’t have something old… Something new would be my first set of earrings.", Skye gestured to her mother of pearl earrings, "Something borrowed… um, my bracelet is the same one Jemma wore to her wedding.", Skye said, tapping the silver bangle with the Scottish Celtic design on it. "Something blue… the flowers in my hair are blue? Do those count?", she asked.

"Yeah, I’d say so.", May nodded.

"All you’re missing is something old…", Phil said, "I would give you Lola, but I don’t think Grant would enjoy it very much if you drove it onto the beach for the wedding…"

"Here.", May said and Skye almost broke into tears when May unclasped her necklace and fastened it around Skye’s neck.

It was a simple necklace, just a small silver Koi fish pendant on a silver chain, but Skye knew that it was much more than that.

"It was my mother’s… your something old… She wore it on her wedding day, I wore it on mine, and now you’re wearing it on yours… If you have a daughter someday, give it to her on her own wedding day…"

Skye embraced her and May stood frozen for a second before hugging back.

Jemma entered the room and smoothed her Maid of Honor’s dress down over the small baby bump that was just beginning to form around her abdomen.

"Skye, it’s time to go… the boys are ready to start.", she said, grabbing her purse. 

"Allow me.", Phil said as Skye tried in vain to fix her small veil  _just so_  over her face, taking the mesh-y birdcage veil and gently arranging it so that it wasn’t messing up her hair.

When they arrived at the beach, Phil offered his arm to Skye.

"Here, I’ll walk you down the aisle…"

Skye took her almost-father’s arm and walked down the aisle, glancing at Melinda out of the corner of her eye as she went and finding, to her surprise, that the older woman was wiping away tears too.

And as Skye looked towards her husband-to-be, she knew that for once in her life, she had everything she could ever hope for and more.

She had her family.  


	13. Week 13

If Phil Coulson ever had something that he could include in all of his fondest memories, it would have to be Lola.

Lola may just look like a cherry red 1962 Chevrolet Corvette to anyone else but to Phil, his car was a vital part of his past. Lola was so deeply integrated into his memories that it pained him to look at her while she was in such a state of disrepair, her parts strewn across workbenches in the small garage off to one side in the Playground's hangar.

He still wouldn't let anyone touch her. 

Mack had offered to repair her on many occasions, but Phil had declined. He knew that Mack was more than capable of doing the job, but he was afraid of what would happen if he  _did_ let Mack work on his priceless Lola. 

He didn't want to have her repaired only to get behind the wheel and just sense that she had been changed because that would mean that he had changed too. 

He still remembers the first time he laid eyes on her. 

Fury had sent him a car on his first solo mission, telling him "not a scratch", and young Phil had rolled his eyes, wondering what could be so important about a car, SHIELD had tons of money, he could blow it up and they'd be able to get another one.

He had understood why Fury had emphasized the "not a scratch" rule so much when the valet drove up to the front doors of the hotel in the most perfect cherry red Corvette he had ever seen and then gave him the keys.

He had turned on the radio and the first song that came on had been Barry Manilow's  _"Copacabana"_ , which he sang loudly and proudly, not giving half a rat's ass that he had a communicator in and that the communications agents who were on the other end could hear his God-awful singing voice.

And that's how Lola got her name.

Phil managed to somehow impress the unflappable Melinda May, and the first time he kissed her, they were in Lola and parked on a sand dune watching the sun set on a California beach.

He was in love with Melinda May from the start and they were together for a while until they fell apart. Then Phil found out that Melinda got married, so he got over her.  

Lola was outfitted with hovertech in 1994 and, although the new tech came in handy for making quick escapes, he found it weird that flying was less like piloting a helicopter or airplane than he imagined and more like actually driving in the air, but he got used to it.  

He drove Lola to meet Pepper Potts and Tony Stark and that begun his involvement with the people who would later become known to the world as the Avengers.

He drove Audrey around in Lola and drove back to his apartment in the morning with a smile on his face and a spring  in his step because of how he had opened his eyes and found Audrey smiling serenely at him.

He drove Lola every day after his "death" to re-commit the actions of driving to muscle memory.  He won't admit this to anyone but he broke down and cried so many times behind the wheel because of various things. Some days he would cry because his hands wouldn't stop shaking, other days it would be because of how much he missed Audrey.

Then he had been cleared for duty and was told that a list of SHIELD's top agents was being compiled and that he was going to select four agents for a special team that he would head up. He had to choose two specialists (preferably one that had never been on a team and one senior agent) and two scientists (preferably one that had a medical degree and one that could work with tech and communications).

He compiled his list while sitting in Lola and listening to the radio.

_Agent Grant Ward, Level 6, Specialist, top marks in all areas except communication._

_Agent Melinda May, Level 7, Specialist, Senior Agent, top marks in all areas *has made a request to avoid field assignments._

_Agent Leopold Fitz, Level 5, Engineer, top marks in all areas but is NOT cleared for field assignments, *works best with partner (J. Simmons)._

_Agent Jemma Simmons, Level 5, Biochemist, has medical certifications, top marks in all areas but is NOT cleared for field assignments, *works best with partner (L. Fitz)._  

He drove Lola right up onto the cargo ramp of his brand new Airborne Mobile Command Station, which he referred to as simply "the bus" and said, "Don't touch Lola.", to the one attendant who approached his priceless corvette.

He drove Lola on many missions when the team took the SUV and when Ward betrayed them all and kidnapped Skye (whom he had grown very attached to and treated like the daughter he never had), he used Lola to escape the bus while it was in flight, but poor Lola had been damaged badly in their hasty getaway.

Now Mack would drop hints to him about having the know-how that was a necessity in order to repair Lola, and after careful deliberation on the matter, Phil approached the mechanic and handed him the key to the side garage with one request, "Take care of Lola."   

Mack worked tirelessly on the vintage car and it seemed to take decades, but one day in early July, Mack came and knocked on his office door, saying that he needed his opinion on the color for Lola's touch up job.

Phil followed the mechanic down to the garage to see how Lola's repairs were coming along and got the surprise of his life when Mack opened the door and turned on the lights in the main hangar.

"SURPRISE!", his agents shouted as they emerged from behind the parked bus, Quinjets, and other vehicles.

He noticed that the vehicles had been moved off to the sides and decorated with balloons and streamers.

It was a surprise birthday party....with all the hustle and bustle of being Director, he had celebrated with a cold drink and let it be, but his agents.... his friends and family, had gone the extra mile to make sure he wasn't forgotten.

Skye stepped up.

"Okay D.C, here's the deal, we all know how hard you work so we decided to show our thanks by throwing this birthday party for you, we hope you like it and I guess now would be as good a time as any to give you your gift..."

Skye whistled and Barry Manilow's  _"Copacabana"_ started playing. 

Then he heard the low purr of Lola's engine and Mack drove his now restored corvette into sight.

Lola looked the same, right down to every little detail that he could recall. When Mack handed over the keys and said, "Happy birthday, boss. I hope she's good enough...", Phil Coulson sat down in his car and ran his hands over the steering wheel and said, "She's perfect."

He made many more memories in Lola.

Lola was there when he and Melinda May began dating again.

He was in Lola with Grant Ward when the redeemed agent asked for his blessing so that he could propose to Skye.

Cans were tied to Lola's rear bumper and a "Just Married" sign was placed on the trunk twice, once for Skye and Grant's wedding, and then again as a surprise when Phil and Melinda got married in a simple courthouse ceremony.

Phil maneuvered Lola through traffic to the hospital when Skye went into labor and drove home after the birth while Melinda slept in the passenger's seat.

Phil smiled as his six year old granddaughter Lily Ward squealed in delight, "One more time grandpa!" from her passenger's side booster seat as he flew them around the base  _one more time._ He could never deny that little girl anything. 

He would never forget any of the memories he had in Lola... he never could.  

    


	14. Week 14

(Or the time when Skye and Jemma go out to finish some last minute Christmas shopping and leave Grant and Leo home with the kids to babysit)

"Mummy, when will you and Aunt Skye be back?", seven-year-old Elizabeth Fitz-Simmons asked, tilting her head to one side, her reddish brown curls flopping as her blue eyes were wide with curiosity. 

Jemma knelt down and kissed her oldest child on the forehead.

"I’ll be back after you’re in bed and asleep.", she replied, tucking one of her daughter’s curls behind an ear and smiling at just how much her little girl looked like her father, Leo Fitz-Simmons who stepped forward, carrying his other daughter, five-year-old Victoria Fitz-Simmons. 

Victoria, however, was asleep in Leo’s arms in her footie pajamas. She had gone over to a friend’s house for a play-date earlier and had returned home exhausted but happy.

"Ready to go Jemma?", Skye asked as she pulled on her winter gloves.

"Mommy!", six-year-old Lily Ward called as she ran to her mother, closely followed by her four-year-old brother, Phil Ward, and then their father, Grant Ward, who was carrying their youngest sister, fourteen-month-old Melinda "Mindy" Ward.

Corona loped along behind them with her trademark Samoyed smile on her face. Even at ten years old, she could still keep up with the children and the children loved her.

"Ah, here’s my brood of ducklings!", Skye said as she knelt down and caught her daughter and son in her arms.

Grant placed Mindy’s feet on the floor and held her hand as the little girl toddled over to her mother to join in the group hug.

 Corona laid down on the hallway rug and put her head down, content to watch her humans interact from a distance.

"Are you going to go with Aunt Jemma to the hospital?", Lily asked her mother as she pointed to Jemma’s sizable bump, "Will it be like the time when you and Daddy went to the hospital and we got to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house and then we got to visit you and meet Mindy?"

Leo smiled and shook his head.

"No’ this time, Lily…"

"The twins will come in the springtime.", Jemma said, finishing her husband’s statement.

"Oh…", Lily said with a nod.

Skye met her husband’s eyes and he raised his eyebrows as if to ask,  _"Should I put them to bed now?"_

Skye gave the tiniest of nods to Grant and she kissed her babies goodnight. 

"Okay, mommy has to go now, how about I read you all a bedtime story?", Grant asked his children. 

"Can Uncle Leo do the sound effects?", Phil asked.

Grant looked up at Leo and Leo shrugged.

"Sure, I ‘spose I can do somethin’.", the engineer replied, "Come along Lizzie.", he beckoned to his oldest child.

Elizabeth kissed her mother one more time.

"Goodnight mummy."

"Goodnight Lizzie."

Skye stood up and gave Grant a kiss, both of them grinning a little when their older kids made gagging noises.

"See you soon Grant."

"Drive safe Skye."

"I always do… you’re the reckless one…", Skye winked at him as he went upstairs with their children and Corona.

"Have fun Jemma.", Leo said, kissing his wife before placing a hand on her belly and smiling as he turned and followed Grant upstairs.

Skye and Jemma got into Skye’s car and were soon off to the mall to get some shopping done before Christmas.

"Thanks for letting us spend Christmas with you.", Jemma said.

"Oh it’s no problem, besides, you have no  _idea_ how much of a help it is when we have more than two adults in the house… things get a little crazy…”

"Oh trust me, two girls can be quite the handful…"

"Have you ever found your kids playing ‘house’ and having a make believe tea party with your fine china and with the dog in a bonnet as a ‘guest’?", Skye asked.

"Not quite… Although on some occasions, I have found them playing ‘Laboratory’ with my chemistry kit or building fortresses with the heavy science textbooks…", Jemma replied, adjusting her seat belt over her abdomen.

"Are you excited about the twins?", Skye asked.

Jemma shrugged.

"I don’t know if excited is  quite the word to describe it…"

"What do you mean?", Skye asked, "Didn’t you want more kids?"

"Well, Leo and I wanted three kids, and I don’t mind that they’re twins and we’ll have four, that’s not my main area of concern. I’m happy to have them and I don’t mind that at all.", the scientist replied, twisting her scarf absentmindedly. 

"Then what’s the problem?" 

"You remember when Victoria was born?"

"Yeah… she was born six weeks premature. I remember having to watch Elizabeth when you would go to see her in the NICU."

"And that’s the problem… I don’t think I can go through that again…"

"Through what? Having another preemie?"

"Yes… you wouldn’t quite understand my situation because all of your children were born healthy and you got to nurse them and hold them after they were born, but can you imagine for a moment that Phil had been born premature, you would be expecting to hold him like you had when Lily was born, but instead of holding him, you only catch a glimpse of him before the NICU nurses whisk him away.", Jemma paused as Skye parked the car outside of the mall, "How would you feel?", she asked. 

Skye was silent for a moment and then she replied, 

"I’d feel like a part of me was ripped away… you know how you feel when they place the baby on you and you hear it crying, how suddenly that contact is a better painkiller than whatever they put in that epidural…", Skye looked at Jemma.

Jemma nodded.

"Well I’d still feel the pain… not just from the obvious birth but from the feeling of loss…"

"Imagine that feeling lasting for a month and a half… That’s what it was like for me…", Jemma paused, "And Elizabeth thought Leo and I loved Victoria more because we would spend so much time in the NICU and not as much time with her… when Victoria finally came home, Elizabeth didn’t want to have anything to do with her for ages."

"I know, Elizabeth may have only been two at the time, but when she was staying with us at first she told us that she wanted her mummy and daddy and she was clearly homesick but as the time passed, she went from saying that she wanted to go home to saying that you had a new baby and that you didn’t want her anymore."

"Exactly, I don’t think I can bear to go through it again. I know that there’s a 50% chance that these twins could be born premature. I don’t want to alienate both of my daughters if that should happen."

"Well, I suppose we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.", Skye stated as they entered the mall and went right to the nearest men’s department.

"And what about you and Grant?", Jemma asked as they browsed for their husbands.

"What about us?", Skye asked.

"Are you thinking about any additions to the family?", Jemma asked.

Skye laughed and shook  her head.

"Not at the moment… ask me again when Mindy turns two… then you’ll have your answer… I was personally thinking about adopting a couple of kids, you know, since I was an orphan…", Skye replied.

"That sounds like a lovely idea, one that I’m sure Grant will like." 

The two women finished up their shopping, asking that all of their gifts be wrapped in the store so that they wouldn’t have to stay up all night on Christmas Eve to wrap them. 

They drove back to the Ward house and just chatted idly about work on the way, but when they came in the house and hid the presents in the garage attic, they went off to look for their husbands and children.

They found Corona sleeping in her doggie bed on the landing at the top of the stairs inside and Corona raised her head when they neared her but settled again when she saw that it was just the human mothers.

They found their children sleeping in their respective beds and then they went to look for Grant and Leo.

They found them in the basement, trying to wrap some gifts for the children.

It was a mess to say the least.

"Hello boys…look’s to me like you’ve been busy elves…", Skye greeted.

Leo and Grant looked up from a heap of wrapping paper, tape, tissue paper, and ribbon.

"Hey, how’d it go? Did you get what you needed to get?", Grant asked.

The two women nodded.

"You look like you need some help.", Jemma said, noting the mess.

"No kiddin’…", Leo replied with a smirk.

The women sighed and went to help their husbands wrap the gifts. 

"Honestly Leo, how do you make a living building robots but somehow find it impossible to wrap a present?", Jemma joked lovingly.

"The hell if I know…", Leo replied as his wife helped him wrap up the telescope that Elizabeth had been asking for since last Christmas, "It’s the big ones an’ the odd shaped ones that mess me up…"

"Thank God, I’m saved!", Grant said, smiling as Skye helped him wrap up the tea set that they had bought so that their  own dishes would (hopefully) remain intact.

"Did they cause any trouble?", Skye asked.

Both men shook their heads.

"Not a bit."

"How did you manage to get them to take their baths?", Jemma asked.

"Well, ye’ know that Lizzie prefers showers an’ is fine with taking them on her own an’ that Victoria already had her bath before ye’ left so Grant told me that Lizzie was welcome to use the master bathroom and that Lily would use it after she was done.", Leo replied, "I only had to check on Lizzie once to make sure she wasn’t snooping about in Skye’s cosmetics." 

"What about Phil and Mindy?", Skye asked.

Grant and Leo both sighed.

"It was a mess…", Leo said.

"Phil knocked the bubble bath all over the floor and we had to clean it up. Phil tried to help us out by taking the rinsing cup off the side of the tub and dumping water onto the floor."

"Oh damn…", Skye said, "Did it leak through the tile?"

"No, I got it in time… Phil apologized and he only started kicking and fussing when I accidentally got shampoo in his eyes…", Grant said.

"But isn’t that the ‘no tears’ shampoo?", Jemma asked.

"It was, but I remember getting that stuff splashed in my eye once and I swear it burns like you wouldn’t believe…", Grant replied.

"What about Mindy?", Skye asked.

"Oh, you know, she was pretty normal. She didn’t fuss once she was in the tub, but she kept squirming when I went to put her in and when it was over, she didn’t want to get out."

Skye nodded.  

They finished wrapping and said goodnight before retiring to their own rooms where both couples went right to sleep after the exhausting evenings they had endured. 


	15. Week 15

Everyone had their own Christmas traditions that they carried with them into their marriages.

Leo and Jemma watched all the Doctor Who Christmas specials on Christmas eve before heading to midnight service at the nearest church (As Leo's mum had been quite religious). On Christmas day, they would eat breakfast and open presents before Jemma made her great grandmother's Christmas cake and then they either hosted or went off to Christmas dinner at someone else's house.

Melinda's family hadn't really celebrated Christmas when she was growing up. Since she had both parents in the CIA, their jobs often led to one parent being absent for the holidays and most of the time it had been her father. Her mother tried her best though and every year, Melinda's one wish would be for her parents to continue to return home safely from their missions. Christmas for her was never set in stone and would change from year to year. When Phil was young, his dad died around the holidays and his mother tried to honor his memory by going to the cemetery where he was buried after the Christmas day church service to lay a Christmas wreath on his headstone, and then going home to open presents and fix her Christmas dinner. Phil honored this tradition after his mom died and continued going with Melinda to the Christmas day service and then heading to visit the cemetery where his parents were interred. Then he would go home with Mel and they would open presents and they would usually host Christmas dinner where everyone would gather.

When Antoine and his long time girlfriend Olivia Chase married, they would spend Christmas with family or friends and sometimes both.

Bobbi and Lance remarried and had a holiday tradition of spending a quiet Christmas together before heading out to the home of whomever was hosting the Christmas feast that year (they never hosted because of the size of their small apartment).   

Things were a little different when Skye and Grant began dating. Skye had never celebrated and didn't really have any traditions whereas Grant had celebrated as a child before he came to hate his family, thus dropping whatever traditions had been associated with them. 

They were faced with the task of creating their own traditions, and that's exactly what they did.

Grant ended his counseling right before Christmas, so Skye went out and adopted a puppy to give to him.

She picked out the little ball of white fur that was all alone in her kennel at the local ASPCA shelter and the lady told her that the puppy was a purebred Samoyed and that she was the only one from the litter that was abandoned because she had been really sick. Thankfully the little girl had survived and as Skye held the playful little puppy, she saw the same survivor's spirit in her that she saw in Grant, so she adopted her on Christmas eve and Antoine volunteered look after the puppy until Skye picked her up early on Christmas day.

Skye made sure to put puppy training pads and holes in the box so that the puppy could be comfy and sure enough, when Grant opened the big box on Christmas day, he almost cried when the fluffy white puppy poked her head up and placed her paws on the side of the box to yip at him before he scooped her up and took her outside to show her where to do her business (hey it was a good way to lay down the ground rules from the start). He came back inside with the puppy and put a package bow on her head before taking a picture and announcing that the puppy's name was Corona.

That became a tradition. Every year, Grant would place a bow on Corona's head and take a picture. After that, things just sort of fell into place as they married and celebrated things like "Baby's First Christmas" and grew into their traditions.   


	16. Week 16

(Or the team spends New Year's Eve in different places)

\--------------------------- 

Cannons boomed and raucous choruses of "Auld Lang Syne" reverberated in the streets outside Edinburgh castle, but miles away, in a small flat in Glasgow, Leo and Jemma Fitz-Simmons kissed slowly on their sofa as the scene played out on the telly.

It was their first New Year's Eve as husband and wife and Jemma broke away from the kiss to breathe out, "What are your resolutions?". 

Leo smiled and kissed her again, noticing how she was blushing from the red wine buzz.

"Well, ye' always said that we needed ta' get in shape...", he replied.

She cocked her head, "Oh, so do you have any ideas as to how we can plan on doing that?"

He licked the spot just below her left ear, knowing that that was a major turn-on for her, and smiled when she let out a little breathy whimper in response.

"As a matter o' fact, I do.", he replied.

"Do tell.", she purred.

"Well, I was thinking of makin' love to you every day...", he said, purposefully adding a lilt to his brogue to make it deeper.

"That would work...", she whispered.

"What are your resolutions?", he murmured.

"Well, I want to start working on our family.", she murmured and rubbed a hand across her flat belly, "We already discussed things with each other about our plans to start one and I've spoken to my doctor about going off my birth control and she said that I would be alright. Coulson has already told us that he would be able to allow us time off for maternity and paternity leave, although we would have to move back to the states if we were still going to work for SHIELD since we're in charge of the Science and Technology division..."

"Well that was a given from the start...", Leo replied, emptying his wine glass, "We both knew that living here would be temporary an' while it's been good to be back, this place isn't going to be big enough if we plan on having a baby..."

"I agree. So perhaps our resolutions should also include finding a house..."

"Sounds like a plan...", Leo murmured against the column of Jemma's throat.

"Mmhmm and I think we should start that workout immediately...", Jemma replied, getting up off the sofa and grabbing the bottle of wine and their empty glasses off of their coffee table, adding a little more sway to her hips when she walked to their dining room to deposit them on the table.

She walked over and turned off the telly, turning around when she got to the hall that led to their bedroom.

She pulled off her shirt and beckoned to her husband with a wink and a sensual 'come hither' motion.

"Well come on Leo...", she purred, giving him her best bedroom eyes.

Leo growled as he dashed across the room and Jemma squealed in delight as Leo chased his beautiful wife back into their bedroom.

\--------------------------- 

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!", the bar-goers cheered when the clock struck midnight. 

Antoine, Mack, Lance, Bobbi, and the Koenig brothers had decided to go out to a bar that night to celebrate and right now Mack could see things heating up between a few of their party members.

Mack had chosen to be the designated driver because, lets face it, he was a pretty big guy, he could break up a drunk fight and carry someone in if they were sleeping off their buzz in the car, and he knew that he wasn't quite the type to enjoy drinking. Sure, he'd crack a cold one on guys night when they were playing cards or shooting pool, but he didn't want to be in public when his senses were dull around the edges.

Bobbi and Lance were dancing on each other and kissing sloppily in a corner, both of them clearly a little past the point of being considered buzzed.

Mack shook his head and smirked, taking a sip from his Sierra Mist as he saw Antoine and a girl that he had met on a dating site chatting it up in a corner. He couldn't really remember her name ( _"Olivia or Olive...Something like that..."_ ) but she and Antoine seemed to be hitting it off and having a good time.

The Koenig brothers were matching each other shot for shot in repetition. 

_Salt, Lime, Shot._

_"Your turn, Sam."_

_Salt, Lime, Shot._

_"Go ahead Billy."_

He finished his soda and told everyone that this was the last call and that they should finish up and start sobering up before he ordered another soda. 

He promised Coulson that he would have them back at the base by 2:30 AM, and Mack had decided to have them back by no later than 1:30.

He still wanted to stay in Coulson's good books, especially after he had successfully restored Lola. He wanted to work on other projects now and he'd be damned if he didn't go above and beyond to stay in those good books. 

\--------------------------- 

"Happy New Year.", Skye whispered against Grant's lips as they slow danced in the living room of the townhouse that they rented in a complex about forty five minutes away from the base.  

Corona was sleeping in the armchair by the Christmas tree and Grant looked over as his spoiled rotten canine shifted in her sleep.

Skye kissed him again as they danced.

"Happy New Year to you too...", he murmured.

Skye smiled and her engagement ring caught the dim light just so and shimmered for an instant. 

They were engaged in September and they were going to be married on June 11th. Grant still couldn't believe that she had said yes.

Originally, rumors had gone around SHIELD that Skye was pregnant with Grant's baby because of how fast things were moving and, after debunking that rumor, they had decided that a small beach wedding would be perfect for them. 

Grant held Skye a little tighter when she laid her head on his chest and wondered what the new year would bring for them. 

\--------------------------- 

Phil Coulson and Melinda May weren't paying attention to the time and hadn't even noticed that it was a new year until it was half-past midnight because they had been  _celebrating_ in their own private way.

They had already agreed that the new year would be a very happy one indeed...

They only wished that Mack had returned closer to 2:30 AM because that would've eliminated the need to explain why their clothes were strewn down the hall leading to the director's office.

It would've also spared them the embarrassment of getting caught naked by a very drunk Sam Koenig while they were retrieving their clothes.

Phil and Melinda started the new year with a bang and then found themselves wishing that Sam Koenig hadn't started his new year with a tequila shot. 


	17. Week 17

Jemma Simmons got the call in the middle of the night from Coulson.

Tripp, Ward, and Leo had been on a mission and a HYDRA agent had opened fire on them. Ward shot the agent in his head and killed him but Leo had been shot in his gut during the exchange and was at the hospital where he was heading into surgery.

Skye rushed into the waiting room and found a tear-stained Simmons standing there.

"Oh honey…", Skye soothed as Jemma rushed into her open arms and cried into her shoulder, "There, there…. It’ll be okay… Fitz will pull through…"

Skye looked at Ward and wondered in the back of her mind what she would be going through if it was Ward that had been shot instead of Fitz. Would she be just as torn up as he had been when she was shot?

She shook her head and maneuvered Simmons over to the sofa where the biochemist continued to cry into her shoulder.

Jemma cried herself to sleep and slept on Skye’s shoulder, only waking up when someone (possibly May?) pressed a styrofoam cup of very weak tea into her hands. 

She sipped the tea in a state of wide-eyed numbness, not even whimpering as she felt the hot liquid sear her throat. The pain from the tea was helping to take her mind off the fact that Leo was in surgery right now.

She had his patient ID number scribbled onto a post it note that she kept crumpling and uncrumpling as she watched his number in bold blue on the monitor. It had been that way since she arrived almost four hours ago.

She quickly learned that bold red and flashing the room number meant the patient was in pre-op, steady blue meant that the patient was in surgery, flashing green with a room number meant the patient was in recovery, and when the patient ID flashed white and then a room number, it meant they were being transferred.

Jemma got up to use the lavatory and when she came back, Leo’s number was still in blue.

She asked the nurse at the desk if Leo was doing okay and the nurse searched up his number, telling her that he was being stitched up as they spoke.

After that, Jemma found herself waiting with bated breath and a pen for the number to flash green.

When it finally did, Jemma jotted the number down and rushed off to the room with the team in tow. She slid around a corner and into the hall just outside of Leo’s room.  

The tech stopped them.

"Woah there folks, only two people are allowed in at a time until the patient wakes up.", she said in a friendly voice.

Coulson spoke first.

"My name is Phil Coulson and this is Dr. Jemma Simmons. Dr. Leo Fitz is her boyfriend, I’m just their friend and these people,", he gestured to the rest of the team, "Are friends too…"

"I’m very sorry sir, but it’s hospital policy.", The tech replied in a kind voice. 

Jemma turned to Coulson.

"Sir, perhaps it would be best if I went in and remained by his side and the rest of you came and went as you needed to… I don’t have to remind you what happened the last time I was absent during his recovery…"

Coulson nodded and added,

"Maybe it would be better if you went in on your own. We’ll visit him when he’s awake and out of recovery… We’ll be down the hall in the common area."

Jemma hugged him before getting a couple pumps of hand sanitizer and entering the room. 

Leo laid there looking pale and weak and the doctors and nurses flitted around him, stating information as assistants copied all the info down in no time, their pens flying over the papers and fingers rapidly typing information into digital files.

Jemma sat down as the doctors began to file out.

The main doctor greeted her warmly as he explained the procedure to her.

The bullet had entered through the front and left through the back of Leo’s body and had grazed the large intestine in an odd way. They had repaired the intestinal and muscular damage and placed Leo on a light diet of liquids, Jell-O, saltines, and soup until the intestine was healed.

The doctor explained that they would be monitoring Leo closely during his inpatient recovery and that he was on some pretty heavy painkillers at the moment, so he would be out of it for a while.

The doctor remained in the room while Leo groggily opened up his eyes and began coming down of his anesthesia.

When he saw Jemma, he was disoriented and his eyes widened.

"Oh my god…", He murmured in awe as he blinked at Jemma.

"Hello Leo…", she murmured, holding his hand, "How are you feeling?"

"Lucky…", he murmured, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply before wrinkling his nose up, "It smells…"

"You’ve always hated the smell of the disinfectants I use in the lab."

His eyes went unfocused as he looked at her.

"What’s your name again?", he asked.

"Jemma Simmons…", she replied, understanding that the strong painkillers were making him confused.

"Jemma… God you’re gorgeous…", he murmured.

Jemma blushed at him.

"Are we dating?", he asked.

Jemma nodded.

"We are."

Leo gasped.

"No way… I’m dating you…How long have we been together?"

"About two and a half years…"

"Wow…., he sighed, "D’ we love each other?"

Jemma kissed his hand.

"We love each other very much…." 

"Have we…", he lowered his voice and stage whispered, "had sex yet?"

The doctor cleared his throat and went a shade of red.

Jemma blushed.

"Yeah, of course….", she replied.

"Damn… I hit the jackpot… you,", he pointed at her, "are the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen…"

Jemma smiled and murmured a thank you as the nurse and tech returned and began to move Leo into his normal room. 

Leo was in and out of consciousness and when he was all settled into his room, he fell asleep again with Jemma’s hand in his.

"Is this normal?", Jemma asked the observing nurse as she nodded to Leo’s sleeping form.

"It’s the painkillers, they’ll make him drowsy.", the nurse replied.

"He’ll be okay though, right?", Jemma asked as she leaned forward and gently brushed a curl back off of Leo’s forehead.

"He’s not out of the woods just yet, but if his intestines heal as well as we expect them to then he should be fine, but these healing processes take time, so he’ll have to take it easy."

"I live with him, so I’ll be taking care of him.", Jemma replied as Leo stirred in his sleep.

There was silence for a while, but the nurse eventually spoke up and asked Jemma how long she had known Leo.

"Oh we’ve been friends and lab partners for ages now, almost twelve years when I come to think about it."

"What do you guys do? I noticed he had two PhDs… is he a medical doctor?"

Jemma laughed at the idea of Leo  _not_ being squeamish, but she sobered when the nurse looked a bit hurt by her laughter.

"Oh, I’m not laughing at you… Leo’s always been so terrified of blood and bodily things that it’s funny to think of him not minding those things…", Jemma explained to the nurse, "He’s an engineer, a rocket scientist, and an astrophysicist."

The nurse nodded.

"He’s Scottish too? I only noticed that he had an accent when he woke up."

"Yes. He’s from Glasgow…"

"What part of England are you from?"

"South Yorkshire, namely the countryside around Sheffield…"

The nurse nodded and asked her what she did.

"I’m a biochemist. I have my PhD in both biology and chemistry."

Leo began to stir again and the nurse said that she would call up for some juice, water, and Jell-O.

Leo woke up and shakily lifted his hand and placed it on her cheek.

He smiled at Jemma as she pressed a kiss into the palm of his hand and he began to stroke her cheek with his thumb.

"Hello lass…"

"Hello love, you gave us all quite the scare there."

"What—", he went to shift and winced, "What happened to me?"

"You were shot in your abdomen. It—the bullet— passed right on through and only grazed your large intestine. The doctor was able to repair it though and you should make a full recovery if you promise to just take it easy.", Jemma answered, knowing how much Leo hated taking it easy.

"What are my dietary restrictions?", he asked as his stomach growled.

"To start out, all you’ll be able to have are liquids, Jell-O, soup, and other soft foods, then you’ll gradually work up to solid foods.", Jemma replied.

"What’s my estimated recovery time?", he asked.

The nurse looked up from her clipboard and replied,

"That depends on how much you cooperate. Since the bullet had an entry and an exit and since the surgery we did was invasive and abdominal, you’re looking at about a month and a half for a full recovery."

Leo nodded.

"When can I get up?", he asked.

"We’ll see how you feel  in a few hours, right now we’re just making sure that your body can function without help."

"When do I get ta’ go home?"

"In a few days, we want to make sure that you don’t contract any infections.", the nurse replied.

In that second, Leo’s heart rate spiked and he swore.

"Where are my personal items?", he asked quickly, his eyes wide and worried.

 ”Calm down Leo…”, Jemma said softly.

"I can have someone bring them up to you.", The nurse replied before calling down for Leo’s items.

Jemma’s phone rang and she answered it.

"Hello?"

_"Hey this is Skye, we’re wondering if Fitz wanted us to visit him because everyone’s tired and we’ve got damage control to take care of…"_

Jemma spoke to Leo.

"Do you want the team to visit now?"

He shook his head.

"Not right now. Maybe tomorrow, yeah?"

_"I heard him. You don’t need to tell us twice… see you later."_

Skye hung up and Jemma sighed as she sat down at Leo’s bedside again.

The nurse had left the room to continue her rounds and they sat there quietly, the silence broken only by the heart rate monitor and the hiss of the pneumatic compression sleeves on his legs. 

They both spoke at the same time.

"Jemma, I’m sorry." "Why weren’t you wearing a vest?"

Leo sighed. 

"I was, it shifted while I was running away an’ I got hit."

"I wish you’d be more careful."

"I was trying."

"What were you even doing out? Coulson usually calls me before you get sent out on ops with Trip and Ward."

"Well, they needed the DWARFs on short notice an’ I had them in my car, so I went with them."

The nurse returned with Leo’s belongings and a tray of Jell-O, water, juice, and she handed a ham and cheese sandwich to Jemma, telling her that, “Mr. Coulson bought this for you and said to take as much time as you need.”, before leaving again. 

They ate in silence and then Leo asked for his jacket. 

Jemma passed the blood-soaked article over and her stomach turned a little at the sight of the bullet holes in the fabric. 

Leo ignored the blood and reached into the inside pocket of the jacket before grabbing something out and telling Jemma that she should just throw the jacket into the bio-hazard bin. 

"I wanted ta’ wait until tomorrow ta’ do this, I had everything all planned out…", He said with a sigh and he poured some white grape juice into two styrofoam cups.

"What are you going on about?", Jemma asked.

"Well, I was going ta’ take you out to lunch at Tea & Sympathy while we were in New York, you know, that restaurant you’ve wanted to try out for ages…"

"Oh Leo…", she sighed.

"And after that, I was going to hail a cab and take you to Central Park so we could finally see all those landmarks.", he continued.

"Including Bow Bridge?", Jemma asked.

"I’m getting to that…", he said with a smile, "And then when the sun was setting, I would take you out to the middle of Bow Bridge."

Leo paused and his heart rate spiked.

"What’s going on?", Jemma asked as she saw Leo turn the thing over in his hands, unsure about what was happening and  bit frightened.

"Jemma, d’ye know what I would’ve done at sunset?", Leo asked, finally looking up.

Jemma shook her head.

"Well, I would’ve looked you in the eyes and asked you if you loved me…", he looked her in the eyes, "Jemma, do you love me?"

"Yes.", Jemma replied, "Then what?"

"I would have told you that when we met so many years ago at the Academy, I thought you were so amazing an’ that you were easily the most brilliant person there. I didn’t know how to approach you. I wanted to be your friend but I was afraid of what you’d think of me. When I first talked to you during that molecular physics project, I knew that you really were smarter than anyone else I had ever met an’ I admired you for it. The moment I knew I had feelings for you was the time we were snowed in at the Academy for Christmas an’ we planned on watching all our favorite episodes of Classic Doctor Who only to find out that we had the exact same favorites. Before I met you, I was a lonely an’ selfish boy who needed a friend. Now I realize that your kindness, tolerance, an’ generosity turned me into the good man I’ve always wanted to become. You challenged me then—you still do now—and I’m a better man because of it."

"Oh…", Jemma sighed and kissed the back of his hand as tears welled up in her eyes.

"The moment I realized I couldn’t live without you was when you were standing on the edge of that cargo ramp. My heart fell with you that day. I was so afraid of losing you so from that day onward, I promised myself that I would protect you and I was willing to die for you in that pod."

"I can’t live without you either…"

Leo smiled and kissed the back of her hand.

"I love and respect your ability to find hope and the good side of every situation. I strive to be more like that every day. We both love working together as scientists for the greater good and we both dream of the chance to lead a somewhat normal life outside of SHIELD, so I know that together we can strive for that life and make it work."

Jemma intertwined their fingers and blinked back the tears of joy that were threatening to spill over.

"I couldn’t live if you didn’t and I love you so much more than I could ever say. I guess what I’m really saying is that I’m hoping you’ll spend the rest of your life with me."

Leo opened his other hand and Jemma gasped at the simple diamond ring that sat in his palm.

"Jemma Simmons, will you marry me?"

Jemma just cried, she didn’t nod or shake her head, she was too shocked and surprised to say anything.

Unfortunately, Leo took her silence and tears as something else and tried to talk himself out of the awkward situation he was in. 

"You know I would kneel but given my current state, I don’t think that’d be the wisest choice—"

"Yes.", Jemma said, cutting him off.

Leo couldn’t believe his ears.

"Yes?", he asked.

Jemma nodded.

"Of course I’ll marry you… I love you so much…", she laughed through her tears.

Leo slid the ring onto her finger and Jemma peppered his forehead with kisses, whispering “I love you” between each kiss. She kissed him passionately and his heart rate spiked again, so she pulled away and smiled.

"What can I say?", he shrugged, "You make my heart race."

They both groaned and then laughed at his cheesy comment.

When Leo was fully recovered, he took Jemma to Tea & Sympathy and then to Central Park, where they were both caught by surprise when they ran into Tony Stark and Pepper Potts on the Bow Bridge and even  _more_ excited when he invited them back to Avengers Tower to tour the R&D labs.   

Leo almost fainted when Tony told him that he was a huge fan of his work. 


	18. Week 18

Bobbi Morse's phone beeped and she looked over at it.

The moment of truth was upon her.

She steeled herself for what was about to happen and took a deep breath before crossing the bathroom and picking up the first little white stick from where it was resting innocently on the side of the bathtub.

 Her stomach dropped when she saw that it had a second pink line.

_Pregnant._

She picked up the next stick and gasped when a little blue plus showed up.

_Pregnant._

She looked at the third and final stick and this was the digital test.

This one confirmed it.

_Pregnant._

Bobbi put all the tests into a plastic baggie and shoved them into the basket she kept beneath the sink for all her menstrual hygiene products.

Hell, she wouldn't even need those things now.

She washed her hands and then looked at herself in the mirror.

She shook her head.

"How?" was the first question that came into her mind. 

How did this happen when she was so careful? She and Lance always used a condom.

How was she going to tell Lance? 

She hadn't had sex with anyone else but him in the past few months--shit, in the past few  _years_ \--so she already knew that he was the father.

They had just moved in together and they were trying to do right by each other this time around because she knew that their first time as a couple had been really crappy and she knew that it had been her own fault for that. 

Looking back on their previous relationship, she could see just how toxic she had been and in a way, she knew that she had deserved to be called a she-devil after the hell she put Lance through.

 But they were still trying to get beyond that old, toxic relationship and now she was going to tell him that she was going to have his baby.

She looked at herself in the full length mirror and brought both hands up to roll her shirt back off of her abdomen. She still had solid abs but she knew that they would soon become a smooth, rounded bump as the pregnancy progressed and then--

Oh God....

She'd be a mother.

She already knew that abortion wasn't an option because, deep down, she felt like it would be killing another person and she had done enough killing for one lifetime.

Would she put the child up for adoption or would she raise the child with or without Lance's support?

Her vision blurred with tears.

She didn't know if she could do this. She was so scared.

She didn't want this baby to destroy all the progress they made.

"Bobbi? Are you okay in there?", Lance called as he knocked on the door.

She quickly yanked her shirt back down.

"Yeah, it's all good in here..."

She had to tell Lance.

Bobbi steeled herself once again and left the bathroom, marching right up to whee Lance was cooking dinner in their tiny kitchen.

Lance turned around and smiled at her.

"I was just about to tell you that dinner was ready..."

"Lance, we need to talk.", she said.

"Did I do something wrong?", he asked, the smile being replaced with a confused expression.

"Yes, I mean, no, well I guess it really depends on how you feel about some things...", she replied and she felt like her stomach was tying itself in knots.

"What's the matter then?", he asked.

She inhaled deeply.

"You may want to sit down." 

He turned off the stove and sat down wordlessly at their kitchen table.

She nodded and a tense silence settled over them, one that she knew she would have to break eventually.

"Well you wanted to talk Bobbi... I'm all ears.", Lance said, bringing her back to reality.

"Lance... I know that we're trying to fix ourselves to become the people we need to be in order to make our relationship as healthy as possible...", she paused and sighed. She couldn't beat around the bush, not with Lance, "I'm pregnant.", she blurted out.

A moment of silence fell over them before Lance got up and walked out of the room.

"I'm sorry Barbara, I just need a moment to process this.", he murmured as he walked by her.

Once he had left the room, Bobbi felt like crying but she bit back her tears when she heard Lance crying from the living room.

She went to him and found him sitting on the sofa with his forearms on his knees and his head in his hands, crying into his palms.

She sat down next to him.

"Lance?"

She placed a hand on his shoulder and the next thing she knew, she was being crushed in a tight hug.

Lance was still crying but he had regained some of his composure and now he was speaking to her.

"I know I don't have a say in what you choose to do with the baby because you're carrying it... your body, your choice and all... but can you please think of me when you do decide what you want to do?"

"Of course... I mean, it is half yours...", she replied, "What would you like me to do?"

Lance pulled back and searched her gaze.

"I want to keep it and raise it as our child.", he replied, "Bobbi, I love you and I want to make sure that this baby has the childhood we never got... My dad wasn't around when I was growing up and my mum died when I was ten and I know you never knew your parents, so we can work on this together..."

Now it was Bobbi's turn to cry, only she cried in relief.

She didn't want to give up the baby, she wanted to raise it with Lance and now they were both on the same track and she was so comforted by this. 

"Lance, I want the same thing... I want to be a mother.", she cried as she embraced him.

"Hey, we'll face this together, okay?", Lance asked.

Bobbi nodded.

"Okay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thirty-five weeks later, Bobbi gave birth to a six and a half pound baby boy and Lance cried when he held his son for the first time.

They named the baby Gabriel Anthony Hunter (Bobbi and Lance were married a few months prior in a courthouse service and Bobbi had taken on his last name).

Bobbi held her little boy close and she smiled as he made little baby noises before yawning and falling asleep against her chest.

Lance watched his wife coo softly to their newborn son and for once in his life, he knew he was blessed.

 


	19. Week 19

Skye flipped through channels on the TV in the common area of the Playground base, catching snippets of shows as she went.

She huffed in agitation because May wouldn't let her set foot in the gym for training with shin splints in both legs and a rolled left ankle. Her daily workout had downgraded from sparring with Ward and practicing her kicks to gentle stretching and keeping an ice pack on her ankle.

Triplett and Mack entered the room and talked about how the Koenigs were stocking up on toilet paper like the apocalypse was coming in the form of Chipotle's bean burritos as they made up their lunch at the kitchen counter.

"They also bought about fifteen cans of WD-40 and a whole lot of groceries...", Mack added.

Skye flipped on the local news channel and lingered too long because as she went to pass the channel, Triplett and Mack told her to put it back on.

"Okay...", she replied.

_"...And now let's hear from Tom with today's blizzard update. Tom?"_

_"Thanks Jessica, the Northeast region is no stranger to snow, but the people who live here are bracing for what could turn out to be a historic snowstorm... Some areas are expected to have as much as three feet of snow."_

"Maybe the Koenigs were onto something...It's not like we have anyone here who's never been in a blizzard before...", Skye said as she glanced back at Mack who wore a slightly worried expression.

Skye turned around.

"Mack, you  _have_ been in a blizzard before, right?", she asked.

"Well not really. I grew up in North Carolina so we'd get some snow every now and then, we just never got three feet of it at once. I've driven in the snow, but that's about it." 

Ward had entered the room during Mack's reply.

"Lucky you.", Ward began, "When I was a kid and it snowed really hard, I'd have to grab a shovel and clear the sidewalks and the driveway... someone else would have to go up on the roof and make sure to get the snow off of it so it wouldn't collapse."

"I remember having to do that when it would snow.", Triplett added, "My brothers and I would go around the neighborhood and we'd make a profit shoveling sidewalks. Our mom would make us give half of the money to the local homeless shelter and we'd split the rest up."

May entered the room.

"Coulson wants a word with everyone upstairs in five.", she said before leaving.

They all shared their stories up until the meeting began when everyone was gathered.

"Okay, all of you know about the blizzard we're going to get hit with, right?", Coulson asked.

The assembled agents nodded collectively.

"Well HYDRA, as you know, is still reeling from losing Whitehall and with his disappearance, many of their operatives have flown the coop, leaving them short-staffed. Agent Morse has been running surveillance on one of the larger active HYDRA bases in the northeastern region and she's taken backscatter images of trucks entering the base with hostages as well as the equipment that will enable them to brainwash a large number of people at once.", Coulson continued.

"HYDRA's trying to make up for their losses.", May stated.

"Exactly.", Coulson replied grimly.

"When will this 'mass brainwashing' take place?",  Simmons asked in a hushed voice as Fitz held her hand. 

Talking about things like brainwashing and torture were still difficult subjects for Simmons, but seeing her handle her feelings this well made Skye proud. She had come a long way on her path to recovery.

"We believe that the blizzard will give them the cover they need to be successful. Remember, these people were most likely kidnapped and I'm sure that there are people out there searching for them. The snow is likely to hinder the progress of local authorities and cover up almost all evidence.", Coulson replied.

"What are we going to do?", Ward asked, "We can't just let this happen..."

"But we also can't travel safely in a blizzard with whiteout conditions.", Billy Koenig interjected.

"And we really can't leave Morse out there either.", Sam Koenig added. 

 "We planned ahead for this.", Coulson replied, "Agent Hunter left this morning in one of the Quinjets with everything we'd need to launch a full scale break-in and rescue. I also called in a favor that Talbot owed me and got us backup as well as a ride to and from the operation."

"Sounds like a plan. When do we head out?", Skye asked.

"You won't be going anywhere on that ankle of yours...", May said, "It'll be a risk."

"But you need me.", Skye replied.

"Yes. We will need you, but not out there. You're going to stay here with Ward and the Koenigs and run communications.", Coulson stated.

"Just like the good ol' days...", Skye replied sarcastically, earning the slightest of smirks from May. 

"Why am I staying behind?", Ward asked.

"If things go south out there and HYDRA comes here to take the base, we'll need someone here.", Coulson replied, "Besides, you're still in therapy, so I'm more than a little hesitant about sending you into a full assignment."

Ward nodded.

"It's nothing against you, it's just a precaution...I've seen some of my best agents compromised before.", Coulson stated.

"Understood."

"Good. Everyone else will report in the hangar in an hour and a half in full tactical gear. Sam, send the lists.", Coulson said and Sam Koenig pressed a button on his tablet that sent a message to everyone's phones, "These are personalized lists of items and tasks that everyone will be in charge of, Sam will send the specs of the assignment while we're en route. See you all in an hour and a half."

The meeting was dismissed and the base came alive with preparations.

Skye set up all the communicators and synced them up to the holotable in the situation room before  going down to the hangar and watching as the rest of the team trickled in. 

Soon the team left to head to the rendezvous point and the mission began.

Ward followed Skye up into the situation room but kept his distance from her. He knew that she still didn't fully trust him, even after that stunt he had pulled on Thanksgiving.

Skye knew that Ward thought she didn't fully trust him and he'd be right, but he still didn't know how much she wanted to place that trust in him again.

Deep down, Skye felt like there was a war between her head and her heart.

Her head berated the part of her heart that still loved him and wouldn't let go and move on. While her head struggled to find a reason why she shouldn't let him go, her heart reminded her that he had never lied to her, that he deserves a second chance, and that things will get better.

But would things really get better? She couldn't tell.

Five hours later, all the hostages were rescued, the HYDRA agents were either dead or in custody and they didn't have any casualties on their side, only the extremely wounded.

The team arrived battered, bruised, bleeding, and half-frozen and everyone quickly jumped into action.

Simmons and Triplett helped get everyone patched up.

Coulson and May ran debriefings.

The Koenigs made sure everyone was well fed and that the communicators were returned to their places.

Morse and Hunter were among the injured (Hunter had tackled a knife-wielding thug to the ground just before he was about to throw said knife into the gap in Morse's body armor and sustained a nasty gash on his arm because of it, Morse had a concussion and a broken wrist).  

Fitz and Mack ran diagnostics on the Quinjets and made necessary repairs to equipment damaged in the fight.

Ward and Skye were left to restock the armory and put away the Kevlar body armor.

"Hey, I'm sorry.", Ward murmured when they were finishing up.

"What for?", Skye asked.

"For lying to you... back  _then_... Dr. Mullins, my therapist, says that the best way to begin making amends is to apologize for your actions. She also said that some relationships can be repaired but the toxic ones should be ended."

"And what about us?", Skye asked, kicking herself when Ward's face got red.

" 'Us' is a pretty heavy word Skye...", he replied, "What do you mean?"

"I mean is our... uh....", Skye stammered.

"Relationship?", Ward offered.

"Thanks... yeah, uh, is our relationship toxic?", Skye asked hesitantly.

Ward shook his head.

"No. I don't think it is... sure it's had it's major downward spiral, but I don't think that's what Dr. Mullins considered to be toxic. She meant the controlling relationships, like the one I had when I was still Garrett's pawn."

"So we're cool?", Skye asked, holding out her hand.

Ward surprised her with a quick hug instead, murmuring, "Yeah. We're cool.", as he broke away and left the armory.

Skye stood there in silence, her heart beating rapidly at that split second of contact.

Oh yeah... she was a goner for sure.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad with a canvas that was as blank as the new snow outside.  


	20. Week 20

"Mel? You ready to go?", Phil asked as he took off his tie and unbuttoned the top button on his dress shirt, "Skye and Grant want us at the party in a half hour..." 

"I'm almost ready...", Mel called from inside the bathroom.

Phil peered in the open door at his wife, who was leaning over the sink while using her fingertips to blot foundation into the faint wrinkles around her eyes. Phil sighed and Melinda glanced at him in the mirror.

"What? Just because I'm an old woman doesn't mean I have to look like one...", she muttered and made a face as she applied eyeliner carefully.

"Mel, you aren't old.", Phil reassured.

"I get called grandma by Skye and Grant's kids... Hell, their youngest is named after 'Grandma May'...", she huffed and tossed a tube of cream back into her cosmetic bag, "This anti-aging stuff doesn't work worth a damn, I swear I get another wrinkle every day...", she said as she washed her hands.

Phil came closer to Melinda as she went to fasten her necklace around her neck, which was difficult with all her hair in the way.

"Here, let me...", Phil said, taking the necklace from his wife's hands to swiftly fasten it around her slender neck, running his hands down her arms and feeling a swift bolt of guilt pass through his bones when he felt his fingertips brush over the scar from where he had shot her and dug out the bullet before the battle of the HUB.

Melinda went about her business and put in her earrings as she continued speaking.

 "I still can't get over the fact that Phil is turning six... seems like just yesterday Skye was going into labor during our weekly family dinner...", Mel sighed as she looked at her husband in the mirror.

"I know...Lily is getting big too... I can't believe she's almost in the fourth grade now..."

"God, I'm getting old...", she sighed as she turned around to face Phil.

Phil rolled his eyes and placed a tender kiss on his wife's lips.

"Mel, you're like a fine wine, you get better with age...you're still as beautiful as you were the day I met you... you've gotten wiser and more graceful."

"Yeah...", she sighed, her hands settling on Phil's collar absentmindedly, "Oh, did Grant and Skye tell you what they got for Phil?"

"No... they didn't...".

"They caved and got him a puppy..."

"Will the Captain America playset compare to it?", Phil asked.

Mel cast him an incredulous look over her shoulder.

"Are you kidding?  _They got him a puppy_...It's every kid's dream..."

"So? Captain America comes with the motorcycle, the Winter Soldier, Black Widow, and Falcon.", Phil stated as he stood with his arms out as Mel ran the lint roller over his jacket, "A puppy comes with a mess on the carpet and hardwood floors..."

"A puppy is good for teaching children responsibility, not that Skye and Grant don't teach their kids that already, it's just another opportunity..." Mel muttered, "I still can't believe that Nat let them use her image for an action figure..."

"She said before that it's better than having her image on an, and I quote,  _'Fucking piece of shit Barbie doll'_.", Phil replied. 

"Well, I suppose we should go...", Mel said as she grabbed her jacket and the gift.

Their cat, Māo (named because she was a Siamese cat and because of the sound of her meow), hopped up on the kitchen counter as Phil grabbed the keys to Lola and Melinda scratched her behind her ears. 

 _"Māo"_ , the cat mewed when Melinda stopped petting her.

"Yes dear... we'll only be gone a short while...", Melinda replied.

_"Māooo..."_

"Oh don't be that way... we'll be back soon, besides, you already had your breakfast and some kibbles a little while ago..."

The cat seemed to huff in agitation an Phil smirked at the way his wife spoke to Māo like she was an stubborn child.

 "Fine... we'll leave some kibbles out for you...", Mel sighed as she poured a handful of kibbles into one of the food bowls and watched as Māo scrambled to devour them, "Don't complain to me when you're a fat cat..."

Phil and Mel left and just talked about little things on the way over to Skye and Grant's house.

At the party, everyone had a wonderful time and as Phil saw his wife interacting with her grandchildren, he was reminded of just how much he loved her. Her personality, although guarded to others, was a beautiful thing when she let it shine through. Her smile was contagious and her laugh was like the sweetest harmony.

She saw an old woman in the mirror but Phil still saw the same young agent that he had met at the Academy.

Phil loved her then like he loved her now. He loved her as his wife, his best friend, his second-in-command, and as the woman that Skye had accepted as her mother. 

He would never stop loving her.


	21. Week 21

 

"Come on Jemma! This is fun!", Leo called out as he hopped on a trashcan lid and went skidding down the snow covered slope behind the hangar.

Jemma sniffed indifferently and shook her head.

"No!", she called in reply. 

"Spoil sport!!", came her lover's chiding response as he stopped at the bottom of the hill and began trekking back up to the top.

A bang from behind Jemma caused her to jump and turn, only to find that the screen door had slammed against the wall.

"Sorry Simmons, it blew out of my hands...", Skye said as she closed it behind herself and Grant. 

The couple had been dating for a few months now and Skye had been helping Grant through his therapy. 

When Grant had returned on Thanksgiving, he had been  offered a chance to redeem himself, one that he graciously accepted. After that, his therapy began and he had been working hard towards regaining everyone's trust, a task that was much easier said than done.

Grant had apologized to everyone he had hurt. When he apologized to Leo, Jemma didn't think that he would even accept the apology. Leo had done something quite different. 

Leo ended up saying,  _"I know that ye' only tried to save us by doing what ye' did. It's not your fault that the pod didn't float... I know now that ye' only brought us on the BUS that day in the hope that we might be able to fix Garrett's cybernetic parts...ye' did that because Garrett was the closest thing ye' had to a father, even if he was a sick bastard... I don't have a father, my dad abandoned my mum when she was pregnant with me, so I know how it feels to not have someone to look up to..."_ , Leo extended his hand,  _"I forgive ye'... you've been through hell and I'm getting better, so it's the least I can do to forgive ye'."_

Leo came to stand next to Jemma at the top of the hill.

"Does Coulson want us inside?", he asked.

Skye shook her head.

"Nope. There aren't any new assignments and there are no new projects unless you'd rather help Hunter take care of inventory...Coulson is giving us a snow day."

"Then what are you doing out here?", Jemma asked, looking at the two dark bags that Grant had slung across his shoulders.

"Well, seeing as it  _is_ a snow day and  we have a perfectly good hill out here that's covered in snow... I was going to teach Skye how to snowboard...", he said and handed a bag to Skye.

Jemma nodded.

"Well that sounds, um,  _fun_ , uh... do be careful...", Jemma replied.

Skye gave Jemma an incredulous look.

"Simmons, are you afraid of riding down the hill?", Skye asked.

Before Jemma could answer her, Leo replied.

"Yes, she's absolutely terrified...", the Scotsman said before wincing as Jemma elbowed him sharply.

"I am not  _terrified_.", she replied, "It's just a bit dangerous..."

"Only if you aren't careful.", Grant stated, "The more you know about it, the less likely you are to get hurt. Now I'm not saying that accidents don't happen to people with experience, I'm just saying that education, protection, and practice can prevent them from happening..."

 "If you're trying to persuade her, it won't work... Jemma's as stubborn as a mule when it comes to this...", Leo said as he sprayed WD-40 on the bottom of his trashcan lid and adjusted his helmet before taking a running leap and zooming down the slope.

Grant and Skye just shrugged and told them that they'd be over in the clearing on the other side of the hangar where the smaller hill was before they trekked away.

Jemma noticed how Leo leaned to one side as he neared the treeline and stuck one leg out to drift as he skidded to a halt. 

Jemma began to mentally figure out the physics behind Leo's ride and was done when he reached her again. 

"Jemma, ye' look like you're deep in thought...care to share?" 

As Jemma began explaining, she didn't notice how Leo was shaking his head and smiling at her.

"I'm just trying to figure out the maths and physics behind your outcomes when you slide and now I'm putting my own variables into the equation so that, theoretically speaking, I could find out what my outcome would be if I slid, which I won't but--"

Jemma didn't get to finish because Leo had surged forward and slanted his lips over hers, his hands gripping her waist and gently pulling her closer when she melted into the kiss with a contented sigh. Jemma let herself relax in Leo's embrace and wound her gloved fingers up into his curly hair.

When they broke apart for air, Leo cupped Jemma's cheek and murmured, 

"Sometimes it isn't all about science and maths, love...Sometimes ye' have to take a chance and just try something out to see if it works for ye'..."

Jemma pressed a soft kiss to his lips and murmured, 

"Trial and error... brilliant darling..."

Leo chuckled.

"So, are ye' going to try it out?", he asked after a beat of silence.

"No.", Jemma replied firmly. 

"Suit yourself...I'm heading in...", Leo turned and walked towards the door, expecting Jemma to follow.

Little did he know that Jemma had a very different intention in mind.

Leo paused and turned around.

"Are ye' coming in Jemma _ugh!!_ ", Leo asked but Jemma Simmons's snowball hit him right in the face and he recoiled in surprise and stumbled backwards while sputtering in shock.

"Jemma!", he exclaimed as he looked up to find his lover smirking at him. 

"We already know that Scots can beat the English on a sled, but can they hold up in a snowball fight?", Jemma asked, packing another snowball.

Leo shook his head and grinned.

The gauntlet had been thrown down and Leo would be damned if he didn't accept.

"Aye right lass!", he replied, "If I win, ye' owe me a sandwich."

"You're on.", Jemma replied.

"What are your stakes?", he asked packing a snowball of his own. 

"If I win, I'll tell you...", she said before lobbing another snowball at him to turn tail and run.

"Get back here lass!", he said, playfully giving chase.

They chased each other, pelting the other with snowballs as they went, until Jemma tackled Leo to the ground and straddled his hips.

"Looks like I win...", Jemma declared as Leo pouted up at her and with one roll, and a squeal of surprise from her, she was on her back. Leo grinned down at his lover, where she laid in shock from the cold snow.

"Now lass, don't go declaring yourself a victor so fast...", Leo replied softly, his breath coming out in a cloud of vapor, his sapphire eyes connecting with Jemma's own honey brown eyes.

Jemma sighed as she rolled her hips up into his and pulled his head down so she could kiss him.

"On second thought...we could... _ah...Jemma_...just...declare a truce...", Leo gasped between kisses, winding his gloved fingers around her wavy locks.

"I think I like that...", Jemma replied and Leo helped her stand up.

Once they were on their feet, Leo retrieved the trashcan lid and Jemma leaned towards her lover, whispering in his ear.

_"Perhaps when we get inside where its warm, we can help each other get out of our wet clothes..."_

Leo dropped the trashcan lid and with a groan of  _"Bloody hell Jemma..."_ , wrapped the biochemist up in his arms to kiss her soundly before picking her up and carrying her inside as she squealed with glee.

Several hours later, Jemma and Leo panted and let their sweat cool as they laid under the covers in their bed hand in hand, their clothes strewn around the room, and the sheets acting as their only clothing as they came down off of their latest rushes. 

Jemma was the first to speak.

"I can't wait until our next snow day...", she panted, looking at the engineer beside her, who shot her a sated and seductive grin back.

 "Why wait for the next one? Why not make the most of the one we have?", he asked, wagging his brows suggestively at her.

Jemma grinned and rolled over onto Leo.

"Dr. Fitzy, I  _love_ the way you think...", she murmured before kissing him again. 


	22. Week 22

“Well, I think we have enough leftovers to hold us over for a while.”, Skye said as she and Grant got into their car and drove away from Leo and Jemma’s house.

They had attended the christening of Elizabeth Rose Fitz-Simmons that day and Grant had spent the better part of the past hour and a half holding the sleeping four month old while her parents were busy in the kitchen, packing up the extra food to give to Grant and Skye.

Grant and Skye had only been married for a half a year and had just moved into a pretty sizeable home with plenty of backyard space for Corona to run around. 

“I can’t believe that Leo and Jemma actually chose us to be Elizabeth’s godparents.”, Skye said as they drove off. 

“Neither can I...”, Grant said in reply.

Skye gazed out at the passing scenery and Grant spoke calmly.

“Skye, I know how you feel about all of this...”

“I’m sorry...”, she said and wiped away tears that were threatening to fall.

“There’s no need to apologize when you’ve done nothing wrong...”, Grant replied evenly, “I don’t blame anyone for what’s happened and your doctor said that we just have to keep trying... There is nothing wrong with you...”

Skye wiped her eyes and gripped her husband’s hand as he placed it on the center console.

“But this has happened twice now... I don’t know if I can take it if it happens again...” 

“I saw how you looked at Elizabeth when Jemma nursed her and how Leo was doting on her...”, Grant said.

“I should have told them what was going on. I should have told Phil and Mel the first time it happened...”, Skye sighed, “They could’ve helped me...”

Grant sighed.

They had been trying to conceive since they got married, figuring that, due to the dangerous nature of their work, it was probably best to start early. Skye had thought she was pregnant twice, but they were both false positives.

“I just don’t feel like much of a woman...”, Skye whispered.

Grant pulled into the garage and they went into the kitchen where Corona was sleeping on her blanket, but she was  alert when her humans arrived.

Skye knelt down in her dress and the fluffy dog woofed softly before pressing her head into the space between Skye’s neck and shoulder and sitting down, letting Skye hug her. 

Corona had a way of consoling Skye and Grant if they were ever depressed or caught in an episode of PTSD. 

Skye wanted to give Grant the family he’s always talked about and she wanted to become a mother too.

“Well, at least you got those ovulation and pregnancy tests so that we can plan for the best days to try...”, Grant said as he put the food away.

Skye knew he was just trying to lift her spirits, but it just wasn’t helping her any. 

“Stop it Grant... Just stop... This is hard enough for me...”, she replied before standing up and not meeting the gaze of her concerned husband, “I don’t need all of this condensed to a loveless, almost scientific act.”

They both knew that it was Skye who had the fertility problem because they had both been tested.

 “I’m going to bed... I’m exhausted...”, Skye said as she went upstairs and put on a pair of Grant’s boxers and one of his old grey t shirts. She took an ovulation test out of the wholesale box they had obtained and found that she was, in fact, ovulating. She threw the test away after taking a photo of it.

She was already asleep when Grant slipped into bed but woke up when he slipped his arm around her waist and hugged her.

The next morning was Sunday and they talked about their issues over breakfast.

“Skye, I don’t want to pressure you into anything and I think it would be best if we just let things happen on their own. Leave it up to fate, if you will...”, Grant said as he poured her a glass of orange juice.

“That’s very unlike you...”, Skye commented.

“I know. What you said last night about how all this planning was taking what should be an act of love for one another to create a child that we’ll both love and adore and turning it into science and removing the love. I agree, family planning is a very expensive chore, and it’s even worse on you. I did some thinking and I feel like crap for pushing you into this fertility treatment because now you must feel like a walking science experiment that needs constant monitoring.”, Grant said, placing his hand over Skye’s. 

Skye smiled.

“That actually summed up everything I was feeling really nicely... Thanks...”

“So you can feel free to stop testing yourself...”, Grant said.

“Yay no more peeing on a stick!”, Skye celebrated in a small, cheerful voice, making Grant chuckle, “I still want to see if we can conceive on our own though, so don’t run to the store for condoms, mmkay?”, she added.

“The thought never crossed my mind...”

Things grew back to normal over the course of the next few weeks, but when Skye skipped her period for the second month in a row (she shrugged off the first one due to an extreme amount of stress due to a high-stakes undercover operation) but she called out sick and then called her doctor after Grant left.

Skye was on the phone with her doctor’s office when she looked at her profile in the mirror and noticed a small bump just below her bellybutton and between her Iliac crests.

She pulled up the photo of that ovulation test stick only to find out that it wasn’t an ovulation test stick, rather a  _pregnancy test_. 

A  _positive_  test.

“Hey, this is Skye Ward... No I don’t have an appointment...”, she said, blinking before running her hand over the tiny, barely noticeable, bump, “Do you think you can fit me in somewhere today?”

Skye took another pregnancy test that came up positive and went to the doctor’s later that day.

Dr. McFadden, Skye’s OB/GYN, performed a standard exam and a few tests, then spoke with Skye while she sat on the edge of the table.

Skye grew nervous when the older woman took off her glasses.

“Is everything okay?”, Skye asked, her stomach twisting in knots. 

“Mrs. Ward...you’re about eight weeks pregnant.”, the motherly doctor said with a smile, “I’d like to get an ultrasound done while you’re here, so just sit tight and we’ll get the tech in here with the machine in a few moments...”

The ultrasound confirmed it and Skye cried when she heard the rapid little heartbeat of the baby she was carrying.  

Skye went home in a state of nervous euphoria, and tried to act normal the rest of the day, looking at the ultrasound pictures every now and then.

Skye tried to lay on the floor and meditate but Corona came up to her and nudged her abdomen with her nose before sniffing the small bump and cocking her head to one side, as if to ask Skye if she was going to be a mother, and then Skye told the dog everything, not caring if Corona could understand her or not.

This was all real. She was happy and scared at the same time. She wanted to cry and laugh.

She had to tell Grant.

She was so tempted to call him up at work right then and there but decided against it, opting to surprise him with the news when he got home instead.

When Grant got home from his shift at the Playground, he looked weary and irritable.

Skye went to greet him at the door with the ultrasound photos behind her back, but the second he got in, he just frowned at her.

“I’m sorry Skye, but I had a horrible day at work, and I don’t want to say anything that I’ll regret saying later, so can I please just cool off and get a shower before anything else happens?”, he asked, a pleading look in his eyes.

“I’ll leave you to it then...”, Skye said, understanding that he’d do the same for her when she had bad days and telling herself that her news could wait a while longer.

“Thanks,”, he said and kissed her forehead before smiling weakly, “We’ll talk later...”

 A few hours later, after Grant had taken out his frustrations on his punching bag and taken a shower, Skye entered their bedroom to find Grant running a towel through his wet hair as he sat on the edge of their bed.

He looked up at her and tossed the towel into the hamper before smiling softly.

Skye approached him with the photos in her back pocket, perching next to her husband on their bed. 

Grant told Skye about his day and then, at the end of his recap, he asked her how she was feeling, as she had taken a sick day.

“So how are you feeling, I know you called in sick today... you look different somehow...”, he said, gazing at her from a different angle.

“Well, I went to the doctor’s today...”, she began before trailing off.

“May I ask which one you went to?”, Grant asked.

“Oh, uh, Dr. McFadden...”, she replied.

“What did she say?”, Grant asked with a frown, worry settling into his face and eyes.

“Well, they did some tests and she wanted to do an ultrasound just to make sure I was okay...”, Skye reached behind her for the photos, “Anyway, here are the photo results from it...”

Grant took the photos and looked them over with a confused expression on his face as he stood up and walked around.

“Um... What’s that?”, he asked, coming over to her and pointing at a blob.

“Well, Dr. McFadden isn’t quite sure yet...it’s too early to tell...”, Skye said nonchalantly, “I think it’s a girl, but you know me...”, she shrugged and stood up.

“Ah I see...”, Grant nodded and flipped through a few more photos and kept walking, then he seemed to catch what Skye said a half second later and paused. He looked between the photo and Skye, “Wait... did you just--? Are you, uh, you know...”

He gestured to her abdomen and Skye couldn’t contain her excitement anymore.

She broke into a wide grin and nodded.

“I’m eight weeks pregnant.”, she confirmed.

There was a beat of silence in which Grant processed the words she had just said.

 Then Grant dropped the photos as he crossed the room and embraced Skye, crushing her to his chest and lifting her off her feet.

They stayed like that for a long time before Skye heard her husband sniffle.

She pulled back and Grant wiped his eyes.

“Grant... are you okay?”, She asked.

“I’m, I’m fine...”, he said and wiped his tears again, “I’m just really, really happy...”

Skye stood there as her husband got to his knees and placed a kiss on her bump.

“Hey baby... I don’t know if you can hear me yet, but I’m your daddy...Your mommy and I love you so much and we can’t wait to meet you...”, he whispered.

Skye ran her hands through Grant’s damp hair and he stood up again, this time with a huge smile on his face.

“I’m going to be a father.”, he said and smiled, “God that sounds strange and wonderful... I’m kind of nervous... like what if it doesn’t like me...”

“Grant, I’m sure you’ll be a great father...”, Skye said, “Just look at how much Elizabeth likes you... you’re a natural...”

Grant smiled.

“Have you told Phil and Mel yet?”, he asked.

“Not yet... I wanted you to be the first to know...”, Skye said.

A week later, they told Phil and Mel during a coffee break.

Needless to say, their reactions were priceless.


	23. Week 23

Lance Hunter had  _always_ been in love with Bobbi Morse.

Which made things complicated when she had been held hostage and tortured by that psychotic nut job named Kara Lynn Palamas.

Grant Ward had been assisting Kara Lynn with her rehab from her HYDRA brainwashing, but she took Grant’s talk about getting closure the wrong way and, instead of trying to do good deeds and apologize to those whom she had hurt to help her mental and emotional wounds heal, she went round the bend and decided that the only way she could get closure was by doing unto Bobbi what HYDRA had done unto her.

Bobbi had been the bait for a trap and she had taken a bullet for Lance.

Those few seconds of terrible, heart-stopping, nightmare-inducing memory replayed themselves over and over in his sleep-deprived brain.

He had been searching for her everywhere in that God-forsaken warehouse and when he finally found her, he was instantly met with the sight of his worst nightmares coming to life.

It had all happened in slow motion.

He had opened the door, saw the gun trained at him and then he saw Bobbi.

She was bruised, bloodied, restrained to a chair, and gagged. Her normally clear blue eyes were bloodshot and red-rimmed from crying. Tears left dark streaks and tracks down her cheeks from her mascara and the dirt.

He saw her shift her chair so that her body was in front of the gun and then it occurred to him that this was a trap laid for him and Bobbi was sacrificing herself.

He went to cry out to her but he was silenced by the gunshot and was sprayed with her blood instead.

The next moments (and hours) were a blur as he unchained her, begged her not to close her eyes, and called out to May for help.

He stayed by her side all through the hazy journey to the Playground and when they arrived, Bobbi was whisked away and Lance was held back by a pair of slender yet powerful arms.

He vaguely remembers being looked over for injuries and being ordered to clean up and eat, tasks he managed to do on autopilot. 

It only felt like he was allowed to breathe again hours later.

 He was back in the waiting room after his quick shower and meal and was pacing the floor when the doctor told him that she had made it through the first of many surgeries. 

Bobbi almost died in Lance’s arms that day, but she managed to pull through.

As Bobbi slept, Lance never left her side. He was almost thankful for her surgeries because he’d be able to get some sleep and take a shower then with the knowledge that Bobbi was in good hands.

 _“She’s always been  so resilient...”,_ he thought as he held Bobbi’s bandaged hand and watched the rise and fall of her chest, making sure that she didn’t stop breathing.

He lost sleep in that chair, determined to be awake when she opened her eyes.

She had gone into the field and had been so close to not returning.

Lance knew he wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if she had died without hearing him tell her how much he loved her.  

Lance sighed and looked out at the rest of the medical bay.

There were a lot of battle injuries from the attack of the Inhumans, led by Skye’s biological mother, Jiaying, who was able to repair her body and preserve her youth by sucking the life force out of a young person.

Skye had been kidnapped by the Inhumans, told of her true parentage, and nearly forced through the terrigenesis process that would make her an Inhuman, something that Skye didn’t want.

Luckily, Gonzales had shown his true colors at the last moment and shot Jiaying twice, forced Skye out of a window and caught the full force of the terrigen crystal’s power before Jiaying could put Skye through the changes needed for her to become an Inhuman. Unfortunately, that meant that Gonzales was now just a pile of rubble and SHIELD had lost another leader.

Lance never really trusted Gonzales for trying to take over SHIELD but he had died to protect Skye and Lance couldn’t fault him for that. 

Jiaying had tried to feed off of Skye’s life force in the end, and Skye’s real father, even if he was estranged, ended up saving Skye’s life. Skye supposedly screamed at Jiaying as she died that she wasn’t her real mother because there was no way her true mother would ever want to kill her child or force her to change and that she wanted her to burn in hell.

Skye’s estranged father had been sent through the TAHITI protocol and was now living in peaceful ignorance elsewhere and working as a veterinarian, something that Skye preferred because he was in a happier state of being.    

Coulson was being patched up and his broken arm was being set (according to Mack, Coulson had caught one of the terrigen crystals before it could shatter in the vent room on the ship. Luckily, he had been wearing gloves so he didn’t turn to ash like Gonzalez had). May was standing with him, overseeing the doctor’s work, concern laid out on her face, no doubt thankful that he had been wearing those gloves.

Fitz had rescued Simmons from whatever that mysterious artifact from the carrier was, because it had tried to  _eat_  her, or something to that degree. Apparently, the thing didn’t care for ICER bullets or aluminum, because it had retreated into its container when Simmons shot it and when Fitz threw a work table at it. 

Lance had seen the pair sitting down in one of the corners of the medical bay, and he saw Fitz pass Simmons a cup of tea before getting one himself and then he watched as the two scientists sat very close to each other and talked in hushed tones. 

He saw Skye and Grant speaking to each other inside of the room where Grant was being treated for his injuries.

Grant had killed for the first time in months when he shot Kara Lynn repeatedly in the gut. Grant was in a bad state of mind because he had tried to help Kara Lynn recover but had failed miserably. Skye, of course, was still shaken up over the whole Jiaying incident, but they were helping each other out, working together in such close proximity for the first time since before the HYDRA takeover. 

Lance shook his head at the pair. 

Even if they were awkward and unsure around each other, he had been in the field long enough to know what a good partnership looked like, and he could also sense that there was something more between the two of them.  

Lance saw Trip speaking to Agent Weaver as he was checking her for signs of shock or concussive head trauma that could have occurred when one of Jiaying’s henchmen threw her into a wall to subdue her.  

Mack walked around with Sam and Billy Koenig and one of the nurses, checking lanyards and printing wristbands for those who needed them. 

Things were moving swiftly outside of Bobbi’s ‘room’, the sounds muffled through the glass, but inside the glass walls, time seemed to have no place.

The only sounds were the hum of the machines and the steady beep from the heart rate monitor. 

Lance was drawn back to Bobbi as the beeping increased a little, and she inhaled deeply. Slowly, but surely, Bobbi opened her eyes. 

“Hey Bobbi...”, He said softly as she came around.

“Hmm...heyyy...”, she said in a hoarse voice, slowly letting the words fall from her split, dry, and bruised lips as if the words themselves pained her.

Even amid the equipment and monitors, bruised, sutured, and bandaged up almost beyond recognition, Bobbi was still beautiful. She was still Bobbi and the fact that she almost died to save him was proof enough to him that she still felt things for him.

“Are you thirsty?”, Lance asked.

Bobbi nodded and Lance leaned over into the mini fridge’s freezer compartment to grab out a bag of ice chips.

“Simmons says that you can only have ice chips for now.”, he murmured.

“Better than nothing, I s’pose…”, she rasped, opening her mouth as Lance dropped an ice chip onto her tongue, smiling a little when she sighed and the corners of her lips pulled upward in a small smile.

He told her about her injuries and the surgeries that she’d undergone so far as Bobbi let the ice melt in her mouth.

“What about Kara Lynn? What happened to her?”, Bobbi asked between ice chips, her voice getting stronger.

“Ward grabbed her by her shoulder, pressed his handgun to her gut and unloaded the magazine. He feels terrible about it now, seeing as he was counseling her and trying to help her get back to normal in the hopes that she would have elected to help us, but then she went mad…Anyway, Skye is telling Ward that he was right to kill her and that he shouldn’t feel bad about it because Kara Lynn was beyond our help and dangerous. She’s telling him that he saved a bunch of lives by stopping her when he did.”, Lance replied and paused to look up and over at where Ward was sitting with his head in his hands.

Skye sat next to him and patted his broad shoulders, which were shaking. The reformed specialist looked at Skye and Lance noticed that his eyes were red.

Lance read his lips as he spoke to Skye, who handed him a few tissues.

_“I thought things were going well, Kara Lynn was making real progress… I didn’t want to kill her…I promised her at the beginning that I wouldn’t hurt her and now I’m the reason she’s lying  in a shallow grave…I just wish I knew where it had all gone wrong…maybe I could’ve fixed it…”_

Poor guy. He really did think that he could have helped Kara Lynn, because he too had been brainwashed to a certain degree and he had pulled through far enough to the point where his counselor had suggested that he try to help the young woman. All he had done was give her the right information and she had processed it the wrong way and gone off the deep end. 

“She _was_ beyond our help…She tried to kill all of us… Grant Ward did the right thing. I only wish that I could’ve dropped her myself.”, Bobbi said in a quiet yet strong voice before wincing softly.

“D’you need me to call Simmons over here and give you some more painkillers?”, Lance asked.

 “No… I’m fine… I just have an itch that I can’t reach… and my feet are cold…”, she whispered, “You know it must be bad out there when nobody brings you socks or a blanket in post op…”

“Well here, I think I can go and fix both those problems. Now where does it itch?”, Lance asked and Bobbi told him where to scratch, sighing with relief when he got the itch on the inside of her left elbow, right next to where the surgical tape held her IV line in place.

“Thanks…”, Bobbi replied.

“I’ll be right back with a blanket and some socks for you…”, he said.

“Don’t worry…It’s not like I’m going anywhere anytime soon.”, she said with a faint smile.

As Lance went to the supply room, he caught a glimpse of Fitz holding  Simmons’s hands and the look on both of their faces told him everything he needed to know about _exactly_ how much they loved each other (which was a lot, seeing as the two of them were practically inseparable).

He grabbed the blanket and socks out of the cabinet and put them in the warming machine and recalled for about the millionth time how close he was to losing Bobbi.

“You know, you should tell her how you feel.”, Came an even voice from behind him.

Lance turned around and saw May grabbing a large container of gauze off of a shelf.

“How--?”, he began and May shrugged.

“I was there… I helped you get her onto that Quinjet and I was the one who held you back when they took her into surgery. I heard every word that came out of your mouth and I can relate.”, she replied, before sighing and sitting down on the bench in the middle of the room.

“Sit.”, she ordered and Lance obeyed, “Now this stays between us and I’ll find out if you tell anyone, trust me…”

Lance nodded.

“I swear I’ll take it to the grave, otherwise I have a feeling you’ll be sending me to mine…”, he said.

“Well, you’re not wrong. Anyway, I can relate to that feeling of helplessness you get when someone you love is in danger… When I heard the news that Phil had been killed in action on the Helicarrier, I was a mess. I was a mess before that too… We had been partners back in the day, sometimes more, and then… things changed. Bahrain happened, I married Andrew Garner and then I guess we just didn’t work out, even if I put my heart and soul into the marriage. Garner divorced me, and I drank until the pain went away. I eventually sought help for my drinking problem and got better. I still drink sometimes, but I know when to stop. Then I heard about Phil, how he was in Portland with a woman named Audrey and how he had moved on. It was like a punch to the gut but I got over it soon enough. Then I heard about how he had been killed by Loki, and I spiraled into despair. I never told him how much I loved him.”, May said as she stared at the floor, “Then I got the news that he was somehow alive. The day he showed up in my office was the first time I’d seen him in so long but he had changed. I’ve harbored these feelings for so long and I keep waiting for the best moment to tell him, but it never comes…”

May opening up to him was something he never imagined, but they had all just lost a lot of good men and women and they had each faced death and come through, so it was only natural to find someone to talk to because internalizing this sort of traumatic experience could drive a person off the edge.

“May, I’m going to tell you something I learned while I was in the armed forces, ‘Never wait for the perfect opportunity or it will pass you by’. I’m going to tell Bobbi how I feel as soon as I get back, but you need to promise me that you’ll do something, okay?”, Lance asked and May looked at him.

“What is it?”

“You need to promise me that you’ll tell Coulson everything you just told me. It doesn’t have to be an immediate thing, telling someone something like that all at once can be a bit overwhelming, but just promise me that you’ll tell him how you feel, okay?”, Lance asked.

May nodded.

“It won’t be that simple, but I’ll try.”, she said before standing up and taking her container with her, “Good luck Hunter.”

“Good luck May.”, he replied.

Lance returned to find Simmons changing Bobbi’s IV bags.

“Now we’re out of painkiller but we have a shipment arriving within the hour, so you’re going to have to hang in there… You’re top priority so you’ll be getting it first…”, Simmons said.

“How is she, Simmons?”, he asked.

“She’s doing well. We’re holding off on her last few surgeries until we know she’s stable… I’ll have some Jell-O sent in soon…”

“Thank God.”, Bobbi murmured.

Simmons smiled and left the room.

“Hey Bobbi, I have warm socks and a warm blanket…”, Lance said.

“Thanks…”, she murmured as Lance put the socks on her feet and draped the blanket over her carefully.

“I’m glad you’re alive…”, Lance said.

“So am I…”, Bobbi smirked.

Lance sat down and held her hand.

“I mean it… I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t made it….”, he replied seriously.  

“I do…”, Bobbi said quietly, tears welling up in her eyes, “You would have mourned me, given me a proper burial, grieved with the rest of the team, and then you would have learned to live without me.”

Lance shook his head at her.

“No…”

“You would have moved on, realized that I had led a life that was meaningful in its own way…”

“No, you don’t--”

“You would have found someone new eventually--”, Bobbi said.

“No, listen to me, I would never get over you…”, he replied, tears running down his cheeks, “Damn it Bobbi, I am in love with you… Stop eulogizing yourself…You’re here and you’re alive… We’re both alive…”

 Bobbi didn’t say a word, she just nodded and closed her eyes, letting the tears slide down her cheeks.

Lance grabbed a tissue and wiped her tears away.

“Lance?”, Bobbi asked softly.

“I’m here.”, he whispered, gently kissing the back of her bandaged hand.

She gazed at him, her blue eyes crinkling up at the sides as a teary smile crossed her face.

“I love you too.”, she murmured.

“It’s good to hear you say those words again…”, he replied.

“I guess now you’ll have to stop calling me a ‘she-devil’.”, she murmured, smirking at Lance.

Lance chuckled and leaned forward to press a kiss to Bobbi’s forehead.

“You were never a ‘she-devil’… I was just upset because you always put work before our marriage and then I went back into the field. We only spoke to each other twice during those weeks apart. When we came back together, we were different people and we didn’t know how to communicate.”

Bobbi nodded.

“Do you think that we could try again?”, she asked.

Lance knew he loved Bobbi, but as he thought about her request, he began to realize that simply hopping back into a relationship with her wouldn’t solve the problems that they had accumulated over the time they had known each other.

To make things work, they’d have to overcome those obstacles.

“Maybe we should just try to be friends first… we have a lot of things to overcome and we need to learn how to work together and communicate…”, he said.

Bobbi smiled at him.

“I like that idea… we do need to get our priorities in order…”, she replied before looking herself over, “Seems like I’ve got my work cut out for me…Step one: recover.”

“You won’t do it alone…”, Lance replied.

Bobbi smiled.

Simmons bustled back into Bobbi’s room, changed her bandages, gave her some Jell-O (Lance helped to feed her as eating was difficult with two bandaged hands), and then gave her another dose of painkiller before leaving.

Lance sat with Bobbi as she began to drift off to sleep again.

“I’ll be here if you need me.”, Lance said as Bobbi’s eyelids drooped lower.

“You’re a good man Lance.”, she murmured.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Get some rest…”, he whispered before pressing a kiss against her hand.

He looked up to see that Bobbi was fast asleep.  


End file.
